Superman: Corruption
by sorahart
Summary: Driven to madness by events outside his control, Superman goes on a murderous rampage, brutally killing criminals and any heroes who may suspect him. Batman is the only one left who suspects the man of steel to be a killer, but how can he prove it?
1. Blood

Chapter One: Blood 

"Away from me!" Toyman screamed as he was relentlessly pursued by the man of steel. Superman flew above the criminal, burning with fury. Toyman had just murdered a four year old girl during one of his schemes. It had started out as a bank robbery, and that little girl had been in his way, so he just _threw _her, and she hit her head, and then she died. Now Toyman was going to pay. He sprinted through the alleyways of the condemned buildings of the slums, but Superman kept hot on his trail. The Flash sprinted onto the scene, coming in hot. Toyman saw the orange blur moving, and at the last moment tossed out a bag of marbles that exploded, catapulting Flash into a wall. Toyman then whipped out a modified paintball gun, which fired paintballs with enough force to puncture solid steel. He fired and blasted the disoriented Flash through the brick walls of the old building, and then kept moving on his rocket-propelled roller skates. Wonder Woman came around the side and swung a punch at Toyman, knocking him into a dumpster. He switched his super paintball gun to rapid fire and shot a flurry of deadly paint blasts at her, which she blocked with her bracelets.

Superman began swooping down, still burning with absolute rage over what had happened to the little girl. Toyman saw him coming and became filled with panic. He removed the entire canister from the paintball gun and flipped a switch, throwing it at Wonder Woman. It created a paint explosion that blinded her, and Toyman swerved past her, diving through the window of an old building. It had been some kind of furniture store before it closed, and Toyman crouched behind a dusty, moldy old couch, breathing heavily, his chest huffing up and down. Was he safe? Superman flew a bit higher and scanned the area with his x-ray vision, getting an exact pinpoint on Toyman's location. Superman flew downward and crashed through the roof of the building, slamming directly in front of the villain. Toyman shrieked and pulled out some sort of deadly dart gun, but Superman grasped his hand and crushed it. He used his x-ray vision just to watch the bones crumble. He shattered every single bone within Toyman's hand and wrist.

Toyman screamed in agony, and Superman punched him in the jaw, not holding anything back. All of Toyman's teeth fell to the floor in a bloody pool, along with part of his tongue. Toyman's jaw hung slacked, completely broken. Superman grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the wall, his eyes glowing red, ready to fire heat vision. Toyman barely managed to mouth the words, "Please… give me a chance…" This only made Superman angrier. He punched the villain the stomach, savoring the feeling of his intestines being torn apart by sheer crushing force. Blood spurted from Toyman's mouth.

"Give you a chance! A chance! What about that little girl, huh! Did you give her a chance! DID YOU!" Superman screamed into his face. Toyman was crying now, shaking in terror and pain. "You'll pay Toyman!" Superman announced. Then he raised the villain in the air, and ripped him in half. Blood splashed and rained everywhere, drenching the area, and Superman. And strangely, Superman liked it. He liked seeing the murder's blood spray, feeling him die. It felt great. Superman then threw the two halves of the dead villain down, and used his x-ray vision to completely disintegrate them, leaving nothing but a pile of ashes. Superman then spun around at super speed, whipping the blood off of him. Then he stepped outside.

The Flash and Wonder Woman had now recuperated, though Wonder Woman was still covered in paint, and they ran over to the man of steel. "What happened? Where's Toyman?" Flash asked, slightly confused. Superman just stood there with a blank stare in his eyes.

"Clark? Are you okay?" Wonder Woman asked.

"Fine." Superman said with a stone cold resolve, and then pushed past them and began walking away.

"Uh… dude, where's the Toyman?" Flash asked again. Superman looked back at him blankly.

"He got away." Said the man of steel in a grim, dark voice. Then he left the ground and soared away, headed back to JLA headquarters, leaving his two allies confused as to what had gone on. Little did they know, Superman had tasted blood. Superman had murdered.

Not long after, the three heroes arrived back at Justice League headquarters, where the rest of the team was waiting. Toyman was a small time criminal, and only Superman, Flash, and Wonder Woman had been deployed to catch him. But the mission had gone down a bit differently. "So how'd it go?" Green Lantern asked, though it was quite clear that he did not really care.

"Toyman got away." Superman said in the same dark, grim voice as before.

"What!" Batman called from the other room, obvious annoyance in his voice. The dark knight stepped out of his private quarters with a disdainful look on his face. "I deployed two of the JLA's most powerful members, and Flash, and you couldn't even capture a small timer like Toyman!"

"Hey! What do you mean 'and Flash!'" The Flash objected. "Okay, so I'm not bulletproof or super strong or any of that, but I could run circles around any of you guys! I think I deserve a little more credit!" He whined, but everyone just ignored him.

"Toyman's crafty." Superman said, and then moved off to his private quarters.

"Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the fortress of solitude." Flash groaned, and again, everyone ignored him. Wonder Woman looked to Batman with a concerned look in her eyes.

"Toyman killed a four year old girl during the bank robbery. It was right as we were getting there, and Superman got to her just a moment too late to catch her. She died. I think he took it pretty roughly." She explained.

"Grief is no excuse for slack. If he was so upset by it, then he should have put more effort into catching Toyman. I put a lot of work into formulating teams that work well together for specific missions, and after all that thought, the mission still doesn't get completed? It's very annoying." Batman said, and then returned to his room.

The Martian Manhunter, J'onn J'onzz, was looking off in the direction of Superman's quarters with his usual blank expression. "Something doesn't seem quite right. As soon as Superman entered the room, I sensed a strange darkness, an anger that I have never felt from him before. I didn't read his mind because he has asked me not to do that without his permission, but I think he may be hiding something." He said.

"Wouldn't be the first time." The Green Lantern, real name John Stewart, said coldly. "Remember when we fought Darkseid? Clark wouldn't tell us a damn thing about him!"

"I think you guys are blowing this out of proportion. He watched a little girl die, anyone would be shaken up." Shayera, a.k.a. Hawkgirl stated bluntly.

"I guess." Wonder Woman responded.

Superman sat in his room, holding his hands to his head, recalling the amazing event that had taken place. He had killed in vengeance, and it had felt so good. Now the Toyman would never hurt anyone again. Never again. Superman had to kill again. He had such an urge… such a desire, he didn't want to stop. Was it wrong to kill criminals? He decided the answer was no, after all, just think of all they lives that they had taken themselves. Innocent lives, more valuable lives. Superman saw nothing wrong with killing criminals. And he would do it again, and again, and again. Because he loved it.


	2. Fatal Attraction

Chapter Two: Fatal Attraction 

Wonder Woman was flying late that night. The villain known as The Trickster was up to his old tricks, setting up deadly pranks for people to fall into. The Trickster being a very low-threat villain, Batman had deployed only Wonder Woman to face him, saving the rest of the league in case a greater threat emerged. As Wonder Woman flew to Metropolis, the location of this threat, she thought deeply about her relationship with Bruce Wayne, a.k.a. Batman, if you could really call it a relationship. They had been "together" for a year now, but Bruce was always so secluded… he rarely had time to be with her, and even when he did, he showed very little emotion. She knew he loved her, she could tell he did, but he was just too emotionally distant to express it. She had been trying for months to break him out of his shell, but her attempts only made him retreat further into solitude. Why was he so afraid to be with her? She loved him, but if he didn't man up and show some affection soon… it was over.

Wonder Woman soon arrived at the location of the prank, a large bowling had rolled through the street, crushing several cars. Exactly what had triggered this prank, she did not know, but police had reported seeing The Trickster retreat into an old apartment building scheduled for demolition, and no one had seen him come out. Wonder Woman flew through a broken top floor window of the old apartment, and began scanning the building for any sign of The Trickster. He was apparently somewhere on the top floor, but she would have to check every room. She crept silently down the hall, listening for any noise whatsoever to tip her off to his location. Soon she had checked over twenty rooms. Where was he? Then she heard a deep laughter from a room at the end of the hall. She crept silently down to it, prepared herself to fight, and kicked open the door. There was no response, but the laughter continued, a deep, manic laughter. She crept around the corner of the room, where she was surprised to see Superman sitting on the bed! His back was facing her, and his hands cupped his ears, as if he were trying to block out some sort of noise. And he was laughing. The laughter to had been from Superman! "Clark?" She gasped, but he did not hear her, because of his hands cupping his ears.

She tapped his shoulder, and in a blur he whipped around to face her, a soulless look in his eyes. "Diana!" He cried without removing his hands. "Has he stopped yet! Has the screaming stopped!" He asked frantically.

"Screaming? Clark what the hell are you talking about? What's going on here?" She asked, very disturbed by his behavior.

"Go Diana! Go look in the bathroom!" He insisted. Wonder Woman was very uncertain, but with reluctance she moved over to the apartment bathroom. The door was closed, and when she opened it up, there was blood everywhere. All over the floor, the toilet, the walls, everything. And lying in the bathtub, which was filled with bloody water, was the mangled, twisted body of The Prankster. He was hardly even identifiable, he was so messed up. His skin was burned and torn, revealing several clumps of mutilated meat and broken bone.

"Oh God…" She moaned in surprise and disgust. She backed away, for the stench of his rotting, burnt corpse was unbearable. She shut the door, and turned around to see Superman less than two inches behind her!

"Do you like it!" He shouted with an exhilarated tone in his voice.

"Clark… what- what happened!"

"I killed him Diana." Superman said calmly, as if it were completely normal.

"What! Why!"

"He was hurting people." Superman said, moving even closer to her. "And now he'll never hurt anyone again, ever." Superman said with a smile.

"Clark! No, no… h- how could you do something like that!"

"I ended him Diana! I ended all the terror he brings. All the bad things he causes, those will all go away now! Just like with Toyman!"

"You mean…" She stammered, turning even paler. "You killed Toyman too?"

"Yes! And it felt so good… you have to try it Diana! This one, I did it for you! I knew you were coming here, so I came and I fixed it early, so that you could see, you could understand!"

"Clark you're crazy!" She said, backing as far away as the wall behind her would allow. Superman began scanning her, looking up and down at her, whiteness in his eyes. He was using his x-ray vision on her, looking through her clothing. Wonder Woman soon noticed this. "Huh! Clark, are you-" She wrapped her arms around her chest. She turned and tried to run, tried to leave the room, but Superman grabbed her shoulder. "I need you Diana."

"What!" She gasped as he pulled her back to him.

"I want you. I need you. Please…" He put his hands on her waist.

"Clark… I- I'm in love with Bruce…"

"Then what if I killed Bruce! Then could we be together!"

"No! Clark no! This is insane! You need help, we have to-"

"Please." Superman whispered into her ear, taking his hands a bit lower, down onto her backside. Wonder Woman clenched her fists and punched him in the face, sending him spiraling into a wall. His head put a hole in the wall, and Wonder Woman began to run for the door. Superman pulled his head out the wall angrily, heat vision burning in his eyes.

"Oh… you shouldn't have done that." He said violently. As she reached for the doorknob, he used his super speed and zoomed in front of her, snapping her wrist like a twig. Wonder Woman screamed and stumbled back, massaging her wrist. Superman then grabbed her by the throat and slammed her into the wall. She was punching and kicking, and bruising Superman up, but he did not stop. He refused to stop. "I thought you'd understand." He said, his voice filled with rage. "You can't understand." Then he fired his heat vision into her eyeballs, and she immediately dropped to the ground, her eye sockets empty and smoldering. "You hurt me Diana… and now you'll never hurt anyone again." He said with pleasure in his voice, grabbing her motionless body and flying off into the night.


	3. World's Greatest Detective

Chapter Three: World's Greatest Detective

Six weeks had passed since Wonder Woman's mysterious disappearance, as well as the mysterious death of The Trickster. Most of the JLA had given up any hopes of finding Wonder Woman alive. Batman sat at his computer twenty four seven, trying to block out thoughts of her. Trying to solve her disappearance. He knew that somehow, her disappearance was connected to The Trickster's death. So he knew that if he could find the murderer, he could probably find Wonder Woman. He had personally examined Trickster's body, but had no clue what had killed the villain. He had third degree burns over most of his body, but it appeared as if all of those burns had appeared within about a quarter of a second, which was by all logic, impossible unless he were standing on the surface of the sun! Nearly every bone in his body was shattered; the damages were similar to what would happen if one was run over by a freight train. And then his flesh and meat had been completely torn and ripped apart in some areas, like powerful fingers had just dug in and shredded. But there were no fingerprints left or anything. Batman had determined that the burns had happened after the bone breaking and the ripping, so it was likely that any traces of fingerprints had been burned off.

The only fingerprints anywhere in the room were from either Wonder Woman or The Trickster; Batman had examined the crime scene himself. Nothing made sense. Batman went through all of his information one more time, before screaming in anger and punching his keyboard, breaking it. His mask was off, and for the first time in weeks, his computer was off too. He could see his reflection in the screen. His thick black hair had grown longer, and he really needed a shave. Also, for the first time in days, he realized that he was hungry. He had not eaten in about four days. He got up from his chair and moved over to his private fridge, fumbling through and finding a frozen pizza. He ate it just like that, not even bothering to cook it at all. "Is everything alright?" A thick voice said from behind. He turned to see the Martian Manhunter staring at him. Batman quickly pulled his cowl on. He didn't like his teammates to see his face.

"Mind using the door once in a while?" Batman said angrily.

"If I had knocked, you would not have let me in." J'onn stated.

"Good point. What do you want?"

"I sensed you were distressed, so I came to check up on you. You have not left this room in quite some time."

"I've been working."

"On Diana's case?"

"Yeah."

"Between you and me, I think you should be investigating Superman."

"Clark? What for?"

"Ever since Diana's disappearance, I have sensed something strange from him, a mixture of pleasure and rage. It is quite a disturbing feeling actually, but he seems to like it. He has not been himself lately. I fear he may have been involved in Diana's disappearance, as well as the death of The Trickster."

"No. Clark's just shaken up. Everyone knows he had feeling for Diana."

"And you do not?" J'onn demanded. This question stopped Batman in his tracks. He honestly did not know how to answer.

"That isn't the point." He finally responded. "I'd be wasting my time investigating Clark, and time is something I can't afford to waste right now. Clark talks tough, but he's all talk. He's harmless. His problem is that he cares too much, about everyone, even the people who don't deserve. Clark couldn't kill a fly if his life depended on it. He's too soft."

"Maybe, but there is something strange about him lately. His general demeanor has been different all in itself. Does he not seem happier? More enthusiastic?"

"Wouldn't know. I don't leave the room anymore, remember?"

"Point taken. I will leave to yourself." J'onn said, and then he turned intangible, and sank back into the floor. A few hours later, Batman decided to finally get some fresh air. Maybe it would help him think; help him make sense of everything that was going on. He stepped outside of headquarters and spotted Superman sitting on top of the building. That irritated Batman, as he had just sent him to stop a drug dealing orchestrated by Tattooed Man. Angrily, Batman went up to the top of the building and walked behind Superman.

"Kent! What the hell are you doing! Didn't I _just_ send you out on a drug bust!"

"It's done." Superman said blankly.

"What's that supposed to mean!"

"The drug bust. It's done. I took care of it already."

"That was a little fast, don't you think?" Batman demanding, knowing that something was wrong.

"It didn't take long. Tattooed Man got away though."

"Kind of like Toyman got away? And Murmur a few weeks ago, and Icecicle after that? And just earlier this week, when Bushmaster supposedly got away?"

"Yeah. I guess I've just been off my game lately."

"And doesn't it seem funny to you, that all these criminals who are suddenly 'getting away' haven't turned up since!"

"Guess they're just scared to show their faces." Superman said, shrugging his shoulders.

"You don't seem too shaken up about Diana either, come to think of it." Batman coaxed, suddenly thinking that maybe J'onn's suspicious had some ground to them.

"I'm sure she'll turn up. Or maybe she won't. Maybe she won't hurt anyone anymore. She hurt me."

"What's going on with you Clark?"

"Maybe none of them will ever come back. Maybe they'll stop hurting people forever… almost like… they're _dead._" As soon as Superman said this, everything seemed to fall silent.

"Oh my God… you did it didn't you? You killed her didn't you! You son of a bitch! You killed her!" Batman shouted. Superman stood up, turned around, and looked Batman deep in the eyes. A malevolent smile crossed his face, and he cocked his head sideways in a near-unnatural manner.

"What are you talking about Bruce? I'm just shaken up. After all, it's clear that I had feelings for Diana, right? You're just wasting your time talking to me, and time is something you can't afford to waste, right? I talk tough, but I'm all talk, right? I'm harmless. My problem is that I care too much about everyone, even people who don't deserve it, right? I couldn't kill a fly to save my life, right? I'm too soft." He said, nearly reciting Batman's words to J'onn.

"Y- you heard that?" Batman said with surprise. Superman pointed to one of his ears.

"Super hearing, Bruce. I hear everything." He then leaned in a whispered, _"Everything."_ He then pushed past Batman, walking on. But halfway to the entrance into the building, he stopped and turned around. "Shouldn't you have figured that out already? Don't worry, I'm sure you'll figure everything out soon, after all, you _are _the world's greatest detective." Superman mocked with a sly smile. He then started off again.

"You aren't indestructible, Clark. I'll find the evidence to put you away."

"We'll see detective… we'll see." And then Superman disappeared inside the building.

Batman knew he did it now. He just knew it. But how could he prove it? Superman was a hero to the world; no one would believe anything unless Batman could find solid evidence. But how? Superman knew all his tricks, all his secrets, he had thought of everything. Batman then sighed, and uttered three words that he never thought he would say. Never once in his life. "I need help."


	4. Just Ask the Question

Chapter Four: Just Ask the Question

Batman gathered up everything he thought he might need. He had to get out. At first he thought about seeking out the cosmic being known as Access, with his time traveling abilities he could get proof for sure, but how would he go about finding Access? There was no guarantee that he was even in their dimension. And if Batman did somehow find him, there was no real reason for him to help. No, it would be a waste of time to look for Access right now. There were others who could help. He might need a bit more power on his side if he were going against Superman… Supergirl maybe? No, she would never go against her cousin no matter what Batman said to her. Batman sighed, coming to his final conclusion. He knew where he had to go, he just wasn't too happy about it. One thing was sure, he couldn't spend another night at JLA headquarters. Superman would be after him now, and Batman had no intention of becoming the next victim.

**Scene Break**

The Question pasted more cutout newspaper clippings onto his wall, these ones were clippings of the recent murders and disappearances happening. The Trickster, Wonder Woman, Toyman, and most recently, the Tattooed Man. He had been studying all the information he could find for several days now, and he had come to only one conclusion: The government was killing off superheroes and villains so that they could not stop the worldwide conversion into totalitarianism. "I see we have a common interest." A voice said from behind. The Question, startled, whirled around to see Batman standing in the room with him.

"Batman! How did you find me?" Question demanded.

"It isn't hard when your secret headquarters is just your basement." Batman answered.

"And having a cave beneath your mansion as a hideout is different from a basement… how?" Question pointed out.

"When did you deduce my identity?"

"Do you underestimate me Batman? It wasn't hard to figure out. Wayne Enterprises buys a top secret military vehicle that's not even off the production line yet, and a week later Batman is out on the streets pancakeing clown cars in the same vehicle? Hardly a coincidence." Question said.

"Not bad. But more to the point, I need your help Question."

"My help? For what?"

"I see you've been investigating the same thing I have, judging by those newspaper clippings. The disappearances and murders going on lately. I might have a lead, but I need more evidence against the murderer."

"A lead? Who do you think it is then?"

"Superman."

"Oh… well that sucks. You do realize that _everyone_ loves Superman, right?"

"I personally examined The Trickster's body. I recorded my findings in this file." Batman said, pulling out a document and sliding across the Question's desk. The Question opened it up and read.

"So basically, you have determined that The Trickster was shoved through a meat grinder and run over by a freight train, while standing on the surface of the sun? You're detective skills are _incredible _dark knight." The Question said sarcastically, pushing the file back, knowing that none of the information made sense.

"I thought the same thing. But watch this." Batman pulled out a disk and put it into The Question's computer, and played the video. The first scene was from a security camera at Arkham Asylum, where the Justice League and recently fought back a prison break. Batman had stolen the security tape from that day to use as evidence. On the video, they eventually saw the villain Killer Croc run across the screen, and then there was a quick flash, and Croc was passed out on the ground.

"What was that?" The Question asked.

"Watch." Batman said, taking the keyboard. He rewound the video and played it in slow motion. They saw a blur, and then a bright flash, and then Croc on the ground. Batman rewound again, slowing it down even more, and playing it frame-by-frame. This time they could clearly make out the blur as Superman hovering in the air. The flash was a blast of Superman's heat vision, which struck Killer Croc and put him on the ground.

"So? Superman shot Killer Croc with heat vision, so what?" The Question asked.

"What happened isn't the point. The point is the speed at which it happened. I had to bring this video as slow as possible just to catch it happen. Now if you look in the file, you'll see that the burns on The Trickster appeared within a quarter of a second. From what we saw here, that's plenty of time for Superman's heat vision to take effect." Batman explained.

"Okay, so you've proved that Superman's heat vision has enough speed to have fried The Trickster, but what about the intensity? If the heat vision cannot generate enough heat to cause third degree burns in that amount of time, then you have no ground to stand on." The Question said.

"I know. That's the problem. I can't think of a way to prove the intensity of that heat vision." Batman agreed.

"Play it one more time." Question demanded. Batman did not object, though he had gone through it over a hundred times. They watched the scene play out in slow motion frame-by-frame, seeing Superman fly by and blast Killer Croc with heat vision again. "Wait, play it again!" Question gasped. Batman did. "Pause!" Question demanded, and Batman did. "Okay, zoom in right there." Question continued, putting his finger toward Killer Croc's shoulder. Batman zoomed in on that area as much as he could. There was a tiny glint of something shiny, peeking up just behind Killer Croc's shoulder. Only a sliver of the tiny object could be seen.

"How did you see that?" Batman asked.

"I was looking for it." Question said obnoxiously. "What is it?"

"It's Two Face's coin. I took him down around the time Croc started causing trouble, his coin must have flown over there."

"It's a regular silver dollar, correct?"

"Yeah, there's a slash through on side of it, but yeah." Then Batman's eyes widened, and he understood what Question was getting at.

Batman played the video, still zooming, and paused it again just a moment later, at the same time Killer Croc was hit by the heat vision; the heat radiating from it melted the coin! The coin became a completely liquefied glob.

"The heat vision just melted the coin." Batman pointed out.

"Yes, and if I'm not mistaken, anything that can melt a silver dollar that fast, can easily deal third degree burns in the same amount of time."

"So we can prove that the heat vision _could _have killed The Trickster, but we still can't prove that it_ did_."

"And what about the broken bones and the shredded flesh?"

"We've all seen Superman stop trains with his bare hands before. I think we know he is very capable of shattering bones and ripping flesh."

"Well congratulations Batman, you've narrowed the search down to about a hundred people." Question said, folding his arms.

"What?"

"Well face it Batman, Superman is not the only one capable of doing these things. There's Darkseid, Major Force, Bizzaro, Holocaust, and countless others who have powers similar enough that they could do the exact same thing. If you want to get Superman, you'll have to prove that he was there the night that The Trickster died, and even then you may need more."

"Well think about all the other disappearances, Question. All of these criminals who have suddenly dropped off the radar, Superman was sent after them, and they supposedly all 'got away.'"

"Let's focus on one crime at a time Batman. It would be better to bust Superman for one murder and win, then to try to bust him for several murders and fail. Personally, I'm still not really convinced he did it."

"Well you haven't seen him lately. Ever since he watched Toyman kill this little girl, he's been… broken."

"If that's the root of the problem, then go back to it. Start from there and retrace Superman's steps, and see if you find anything more."

"You're coming with me."

"Why?"

"Because two heads are better than one. You're brilliant Question, you are one of the very few detectives who I admire. I may need your help."

"And how do I know you didn't do it?"

"Excuse me?"

"You said it yourself, I'm brilliant. So how do I know you didn't commit these murders, which by the way does seem more likely, and then you realized that I would be on the case, so now you're trying to get rid of me? How do I know I can trust you?"

"Because I'm asking you for your help. Would I ever ask for help? For anything?" Batman demanded. The Question seemed to ponder this for a moment.

"No, I suppose you wouldn't. This must mean a lot to you."

"So will you come?"

"Sure. Just one question… why does this mean a lot to you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"This whole case. It drove you, of all people, to ask for help. That's how important it is. Why?"

"If I'm going to bring the man of steel down, even I know that I can't do it alone."

"Are you sure it isn't because of Diana?"

"Diana was just another woman. There have been plenty of them in my life."

"True, but Diana was the first one who you were ever afraid of. And you loved that, didn't you?" Question inquired.

Batman did not answer, he simply turned around and walked out the door. Question sighed and then called for Batman to stop.

"Batman, I'm fine with accompanying you on this little crusade. But if you're going up against Superman, we need a bit more muscle on our side. I know that you're prepared for a fight with Superman, but preparation doesn't mean victory." Question said.

"What are you getting at?" Batman asked.

"What I'm getting at is that if a pissed off Superman came after us, I would rather have somebody on our side who could fight him fist to fist and stand a chance."

"Like who?"

"Well we're fighting the man of steel aren't we? If we want power to match, I saw we go with a woman of steel."

"If your mean Supergirl, I've thought of that already. But there's no way she would help us, not until we've got some definite proof, anyway."

"Don't jump to conclusions Batman. I'm not talking about Supergirl."

"Who then?"

"You'll see…" Question said, pushing past Batman and heading out the door.

"Where are we going?"

"Where else… Stryker's Island." Question said with an undertone of excitement in his voice.

_At the JLA Headquarters…_

Superman sat in the silence of his private quarters, the room illuminated only by a small candle burning in the corner. Superman opened up a secret hatch in his floor and withdrew Wonder Woman's headpiece, as well as her lasso, the Toyman's final weapon, and several other mementos from recent murders. "I was hoping to save these little souvenirs…" Superman said to himself, "But with the bat running around looking for evidence, I can't afford to keep them around. But how should I dispose of them?" With his super hearing, he heard the faint heartbeat of his invisible Martian stalker, and then it was gone. "J'onn, of course! He suspects something too… and he's a mind reader… I can't have that. Time to get rid of the green man."


	5. Broken Trust

Chapter Five: Broken Trust

"Flash! It's your turn to collect the trash!" Green Lantern shouted from across the room.

"Aw man…" Flash groaned. "At least it's something to do; there hasn't been any action in days." He shrugged.

"I guess the criminals are just a bit more afraid to come out of hiding… what with all the… disappearances." Superman's voice said.

Everyone gasped and looked up. They had not even noticed the man of steel hovering above them.

"Oh God…" Flash gasped, huffing, "Don't do that! You scared the hell out of me!"

"You should hurry and get the trash, Flash. Don't keep anyone waiting." Superman said darkly.

"Uh… okay…" Flash then zoomed out of the room and began entering everyone's rooms, grabbing their personal trash bins. He nearly bypassed J'onn's room, because J'onn never had any garbage. He didn't even need to eat.

"Flash! Be sure to check J'onn's room too, he had a few papers earlier that he's probably thrown away by now." Superman commanded.

"Um… ok." Flash shrugged, doubling back down the hallway.

"Everyone, I need to talk to you about something important. And I need to say it before J'onn gets back." Superman said bluntly.

"Ok… what is it Clark?" Hawkgirl asked.

"I think J'onn may be responsible for the disappearances and murders lately." Superman said through false sadness.

"What? J'onn?" Hawkgirl raised an eyebrow.

"No." Green Lantern said flatly.

"Why not? It makes sense." Superman started. "J'onn is a Martian, remember? Before their extinction, it was a Martian custom to sentence all criminals to death, no matter what the offense. Maybe J'onn is bringing his customs back to Earth. And then Diana… she was on her way to apprehend Trickster the night she disappeared. Maybe J'onn killed Trickster, and Wonder Woman arrived and caught him in the act, so he killed her too."

"No." Green Lantern stated bluntly.

"J'onn doesn't have any fingerprints, so that's why none were left on Trickster's body. It all makes sense." Superman explained.

"I don't know, it doesn't really seem to add up…" Hawkgirl said.

Superman was getting angry now.

"Remember J'onn before he joined us! He was a killer, remember! People died because of him! Maybe things haven't changed!"

"What about Toyman? J'onn wasn't even with you the day you fought him!" Green Lantern interjected.

"J'onn moves through solid objects. By the time I arrived inside that building, Toyman was gone; maybe J'onn came in, snatched him up, and pulled him through the floor or something." Superman quickly lied.

"I don't buy it. Not for a moment." Green Lantern said, standing his ground.

"We capture J'onn until we find evidence that points away from him. Is that clear?" Superman demanded.

"You know what I think?" Green Lantern said, standing up and looking Superman in the eyes. "I was thinking earlier, and you happened to be the one sent after all of these criminals who suddenly disappeared, and then you always said they got away. Care to explain?" Green Lantern demanded, beginning to suspect something.

"Hey guy! There's something in here you've kind of gotta see!" Flash's voice called. The heroes moved to where Flash's voice had come from, J'onn's room.

Standing there was the Flash, awestruck. He had gone snooping around in J'onn's room, just as Superman hoped he would. Flash had opened up the closet, found a little box stuffed up in the corner, pulled it down and opened it up. Inside was Wonder Woman's headband and lasso, the Toyman's modified dart gun, the Trickster's goggles, and countless other possessions of the victims of the recent disappearances.

"I- I was just looking for some money, I figured since J'onn doesn't even need to eat, he doesn't need it, you know? But… but that's not money…" Flash stammered.

"Oh my God…" Hawkgirl gasped. "Maybe J'onn did do it…"

"So it's settled then. But since he's technically still a member of the team, we'll only capture him for now. Later on we'll investigate a bit more." Superman said. He didn't want to raise any suspicions by jumping to conclusions about J'onn. The group exited back out into the main room.

"No." Green Lantern decided.

"I'm the leader and you'll do what I say!" Superman snapped, but again, Green Lantern stood defiant.

"I'm out." He said, flying off into the setting sun.

"He'll be back; he just has to blow off steam." Hawkgirl said.

Then the man of the hour arrived, J'onn came back from a solo mission. Superman grinned wickedly. J'onn immediately sensed the stress among the group.

"What is it?" He asked. Flash zoomed around back behind J'onn, and Superman and Hawkgirl began to close in on him. "What is going on?"

"Why'd you do it J'onn? Why Diana? Why kill her!" Superman demanded.

"What?"

"We know it was you, Martian."

"This is ridiculous. I promise you that I would never-"

"Then explain this!" Superman shouted, throwing down the box found in J'onn's closet, spilling out the bloodied contents.

"I've gotta admit, it doesn't look good for you man." Flash said with heavy uncertainty in his voice.

"I have never seen those objects before." J'onn insisted.

"Take him down." Superman ordered.

"Shouldn't we at least do a bit more investigation first? I mean, those could easily have been planted there." Hawkgirl said.

"And let him kill more people! No! We're taking him down now!" Superman barked. His tone made it clear that they should not argue.

"If you attack me, be warned that I will fight." J'onn stated.

"Oh, I'm prepared." Superman said, glaring the Martian in the eyes. "Get him."

Following Superman's command, Hawkgirl drew her mace and flew at J'onn, while Flash sprinted in from behind. J'onn faded out and became intangible, Flash passed through J'onn's body, and Hawkgirl accidentally struck Flash with her mace. Flash flew backward and was caught in mid air by a now solid J'onn, who clasped his hand around the Flash's throat. He then hurled the super speedster into the slightly disoriented Hawkgirl, causing them both to tumble to the ground. J'onn then abandoned his solidity and sank into the ground. The Flash began to run again, but J'onn's hands came up through the floor and grabbed the Flash's ankles, pulling him down into the floor, completely immobilizing him.

"Um… what am I supposed to do about this!" Flash screamed, looking down at his feet.

Hawkgirl was then punched by the invisible J'onn, completely catching her off guard and causing her to drop her mace. J'onn lifted the weapon and dropped it onto Flash's head, knocking him out. Hawkgirl began to stand, and was hit by more invisible punches, eventually incapacitating her, with blood streaming from her mouth and nose. J'onn was then struck by a mighty punch from Superman himself. The fist sent J'onn hurling into a wall, and he immediately came back into visibility upon impact.

"That little invisibly trick doesn't work if I can hear you J'onn." Superman said arrogantly, pointing to his ear.

J'onn showed no emotion whatsoever, as usual. He simply levitated in the air and waited for the man of steel's next attack to come. Superman grew impatient and flew directly at J'onn, who immediately became intangible, but Superman stopped in his tracks, knowing what had happened, and knowing that J'onn could not stay intangible forever. J'onn flew at Superman, and Superman charged as well. J'onn released a blast of super-breath, which Superman countered with his own, creating a wall of air pushing against air. J'onn shot into the air and fazed through the ceiling. Superman immediately began scanning the area with his x-ray vision, and caught J'onn inside a wall. He fired a blast of heat vision into the spot, blasting J'onn out of the wall. He then flew in and began hitting the Martian with a flurry of punches. J'onn sent a punch into Superman's face, rivaling his strength. The two titans clashed, pounding each other continuously, both of them bleeding.

But J'onn could heal and recover much more quickly than Superman. Superman swiftly caught onto this and doubled back, shooting more heat vision and burning off J'onn's left arm! Before the Martian could regenerate, Superman flew in and delivered a rib-crushing blow to J'onn, pummeling him into the ground below. Superman then ripped pipe out of a piece of railing and began beating J'onn mercilessly. He rolled the bloodied, bruised Martian over onto his back, used his heat vision to sharpen the pipe to a smoldering point, and jabbed down to impale him. But at the last moment, J'onn passed through the floor, and the pipe stabbed deep into the ground. J'onn then emerged out the ceiling and flew downward, shoving Superman's face into the pipe! Superman cried out and stumbled back, clutching his punctured forehead. J'onn then delivered a dislocating punch to the man of steel's jaw, then hit him in the abdomen so hard that he could feel the ribs breaking. Superman flashed his heat vision, blinding J'onn, and then took advantage of the moment. He rammed the Martian and flew straight forward, smashing him through several walls. Finally they reached the boiler room, and Superman chucked the Martian hard into the concrete floor.

He flew down to strike, but J'onn rolled out of the way and then tackled Superman. J'onn then took advantage of his shape shifting, and morphed into a colossal, monstrous, spiny beast that even Superman could not pry off. The spines began digging into Superman's flesh, killing him. The bleeding Superman struggled to reach out to the side, and ripped a hose off the boiler machine. A flammable gas began spraying from it, and Superman shot a light beam of heat vision into the gas, igniting it and creating a shroud of flame. J'onn instantly screamed in agony, his skin began to boil and bubble, and he fell to the floor dying. Fire is the weakness of all Martians, just being near fire can kill J'onn! Superman held the flame-spitting hose up to J'onn's head.

"You shouldn't have interfered. Now you're just another victim." Superman said grimly.

He then lifted the melting Martian by the cape, and rammed the hose into his chest. The hose dug easily into the weakened flesh, and J'onn began burning from the inside out! Fire erupted from his mouth and eyes, its roar nearly muffling out his screams of anguish. And Superman laughed. He laughed manically. But then his super hearing picked up footsteps nearing. Flash and Hawkgirl. Superman groaned angrily and pulled the hose out of J'onn and let it burn. Soon the flames stopped. J'onn began to solidify again, but it would be a long time before he even woke up. Superman tossed his incapacitated body down just as Flash and Hawkgirl were arriving in the room.

"Is he okay?" Flash asked.

"Get him to the infirmary, but keep candles lit in the room. We can't let this murderer escape." Superman said, walking away casually. He would have to finish the job later.

_Meanwhile, At a LexCorp Research Facility…_

The President arrived at the LexCorp Military Research and Technology Institution at twelve o'clock noon. He was immediately escorted to the offices of the man he had put in charge of all operations at the building, Professor Hamilton.

"President Luthor. Good to see you." The professor said kindly.

"As it is you, Dr. Hamilton." Said Lex Luthor, shaking the professor's hand. "I believe you know why I'm here?"

"Project CORRUPTION?" Asked Hamilton in a way that made it more of a statement than a question.

"Precisely. How is CORRUPTION coming along?" Lex asked.

"Quite well, phase one is now complete." Hamilton smiled.

"Good. Now the only logical thing to do is to begin phase two… I want production of the SuperDrones begun immediately."

"Already begun, Mr. Luthor."

"Excellent, then we're ahead of schedule."

"There's only one minor setback, Mr. Luthor…"

"And what would that be?" Lex asked, his voice suddenly threatening.

"The two vigilantes known as Batman and The Question. Sources in the V.O.P. tell us that they suspect something…" Hamilton said.

"Is it a problem?" Luthor asked.

"No, not yet. But it could easily become one." Hamilton responded.

"Then fix it before it does. We have plenty of agents in the V.O.P., they should be able to handle a faceless conspiracy nut and a giant bat with a utility belt. I want the two of them dead by morning. If he have to use CORRUPTION, then so be it, but only as a last resort. We shouldn't confirm their suspicions if we don't have to. Am I understood?" Lex commanded.

"Of course sir. They'll both be dead by morning, you have my word."


	6. Galatea Rises

Chapter Six: V.O.P.

Ryker's Island, the ultimate prison. A place for only the worst of criminals, Ryker's is located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on an island that cannot be found on any map. No one escapes Ryker's, ever. But if everything went according to plan, that was about to change.

"This is ridiculous. Galatea died three years ago." Batman said.

"That's the official story, but not the true one." The Question argued.

"What makes you so sure?"

"The official story is that after Galatea was defeated, Cadmus retrieved her body. They then held a funeral for her, in which her body was cremated. Now, let me take the facts, and run through that story again. After Galatea was defeated, Cadmus retrieved her body; true. They held a military funeral for her in which her body was cremated; false." Question said.

"That isn't what I asked." Batman snapped.

"If you check the records, there were no official cremations for a Cadmus operative within that entire month. And then two days after she was supposedly cremated, Cadmus donated a large sum of money to Ryker's Island, which they used to buy a custom made, LexCorp designed cell that could hold even the most powerful of superhumans. Coincidence? No such thing. Galatea is still alive, she's just locked up in a specially designed jail cell on Ryker's island." Question explained.

Batman did not respond. Soon the boat arrived. They had been waiting at Metropolis Bay for about an hour, waiting for the boat from Ryker's Island to arrive, where it would pick up a group of new prisoners, and head back to the island. Only boats could travel to and from Ryker's, the airspace was completely closed off so no planes could even go near it. There had been six prisoners waiting to be picked up in the large, military grade vessel. They were guarded by twelve cops while they waited. The ship docked, and a door opened up allowing prisoner's to enter in a single file line, being put through a metal detector as they boarded.

"How are we going to get on?" Asked the Question.

In response, Batman held up a small bat tracer, loaded it into a launcher, and shot it at one of the boarding prisoner's. The device stuck easily onto his clothing, and as he went through the metal detector, the metal bat tracer set it off! Immediately a horde of cops were all over the prisoner, holding him to the floor and searching him thoroughly. In the midst of the distraction, Batman and The Question swiftly snuck around the other side of the boat, entered in through an escape hatch, and then locked themselves down in the engine room. They were aware that a maintenance officer would eventually come down to check everything, so they were sure to hide themselves deep within the shadows. Soon the ship took off back toward Ryker's. It would be at least a two hour ride.

"Don't suppose you've got a crossword puzzle in that utility belt?" Question asked, already bored. But when he turned to face Batman, he saw that the dark knight had vanished. "Not the best conversationalist" Question groaned, and then sat down to take a nap.

Almost three hours later, an announcement came on that said, "WE ARE NOW DOCKING AT RYKER'S ISLAND CORRECTIONAL FACILITY. PLEASE STAND AND BE READY TO EXIT THE VESSEL UPON REACHING LAND." And then the speaker was silent.

"So how are we going to get off this thing without being caught?" Question yawned, waking up from his nap.

"Like this." Batman said, pushing a button inside one of the compartments of his utility belt. There was suddenly a series of loud beeping noises throughout the room.

"What's that?" Question asked, now wide awake.

"That means we need to start moving, fast." Batman said, breaking into a sprint toward the stairway. Question followed. Suddenly there was a massive blast, and the entire engine burst into flames.

"C4?" Question asked.

"Something like that." Batman said vaguely.

"Nice." Question laughed.

The ship began to rock violently, and an alarm blared. The vessel began to sink. The two heroes made a break up the stairs and down the right hallway. The emergency exits were at the left hallway, so they knew that was where the guards would all be. They approached a window. As they got closer, Question removed his jacket, wound it around his hand for protection, and punch the window, shattering the glass. He and Batman then leapt out onto the island, with prisoner's and guards pouring out the other end of the ship. They were at a docking station inside the prison, where a loch of sorts took the ship inside the building. Two guards spotted Batman and Question, but Batman quickly took care of them with a pellet which burst into a cloud of gas which incapacitated them.

The two heroes burst through the door that the two had been guarding, and then sprinted down the hallway. Batman almost kept going, but Question stopped him, and pushed the buttons on an elevator.

"Seriously? We're taking an elevator?" Batman asked.

"Just trust me." Question insisted. Soon the detective duo was moving upward in the elevator.

As soon as the doors opened, Question punched two guards in the face, knocking them out, and the heroes took off again. Their next stop was at some sort of surveillance room, where Batman swiftly broke down the door. They quickly took down the two men monitoring the surveillance room.

"What are we doing in here? If they're keeping Galatea a secret, then they won't be monitoring her cell with these cameras!" Batman shouted.

"Think, Batman, I know you're smarter than this. If we're going to find Galatea, we can't just waltz around in here like morons. We need a distraction, and if there's one thing I know how to make, it's a distraction." Question began messing with the keyboard. "This is a control room for the entire prison. So…" He finished what he was doing, and suddenly an alarm began to sound. Looking on the screens in the room, they saw that suddenly, all of the cell's in the west wing of the building opened! Prisoner's began to pour out into the halls, into the courtyard, everywhere. Question had released over 700 prisoners!

"That should keep the guards busy for a while." Question said proudly. Sure enough, soon every guard in the building was down in the west wing, trying to calm the riots and lock everyone back up.

Batman and Question then proceeded to walk casually down the hall, now free to go about their business.

"Where do you suppose their keeping Galatea… assuming that they are keeping her anywhere but a cemetery." Batman said skeptically.

"Again, think Batman. I know you have a brain in there, why don't you use it? Ryker's Island is inspected by professionals every week to make sure that everything is up to code. If they want to keep Galatea a secret, then they wouldn't have her where she could be found." Question explained.

"What are you saying? She isn't even in the prison!"

"Why do you think I only released the prisoners on the west side of the prison?" Question asked.

"Stop leading me on and get to the point!" Batman demanded.

"I only let them out on the west side because we have to get to the east side. In the east wing of the building, there is a rather large section that isn't even used anymore. The entire section of the prison is blocked up, it hasn't been used in decades because of maintenance issues. I guarantee that's where they're keeping Galatea." Question explained.

"You put way too much thought into this conspiracy stuff." Batman grumbled.

In about twenty minutes, the two of them reached a blocked off part of the building on the east side. They easily broke in, and after repairing some fuses Batman managed to get the lights on.

"We should probably go down. They'll want to keep Galatea as far from the sun as possible." Question pointed out, and they began moving toward an elevator.

But out of nowhere, a bolt of black colored energy surged and blasted the floor between Batman and Question, blowing them apart and caving the section of the floor in.

"What the hell…!" Batman quickly recuperated and looked up to where the blast had come from, where he saw the figure of a familiar foe. Major Force.

"Batman, long time no see. And Question, when did you crawl out of the rat hole?" Major Force's booming voice called in a mocking tone. He was standing at the top of a walkway above them, looking down on them with absolute superiority.

"What are you doing here?" Batman demanded.

"Haven't you heard bats? I'm in the V.O.P. now!" He exclaimed.

"V.O.P.?" Batman asked.

"It stands for Villain Outreach Program." Question said. "It's a highly classified government operation put into motion by President Lex Luthor, _big surprise. _The program takes superhuman villains and offers them a complete pardon from all their crimes, in exchange for super secretive government service. Basically, they do the President's dirty work, and they get diplomatic immunity for it." Question explained.

"Bingo. The faceless wonder over there nailed it. It's like a permanent get out of jail free card, and obviously I've never had a problem doing the government's dirty work… I was a government agent for years! The V.O.P. is perfect for me… I get to kill indiscriminately, and it's not even illegal!" Major Force laughed.

Then Major Force leapt down toward Batman, knowing he was the bigger threat. Batman threw out a set of three explosive baterangs that hit Major Force's chest, exploding loudly. But when the smoke cleared, Major Force was completely unharmed, and he struck Batman hard, sending him flying through an already deteriorating wall. Then he sent a blast of radioactive energy that blew Batman even further into the floor. He then turned on The Question, and attacked. Question just barely avoided the attacker's punch, and then struck him in the head with a piece of pipe. The pipe dented, and Major Force was unharmed.

Batman pulled out another explosive baterang, but this time he prepared to throw it at the walkway above, causing the heavy steel to come falling down on top of Major Force. But as he was preparing to the throw the baterang, an arrow sliced through the air and slashed the device out of the dark knight's hand! Batman quickly turned around and saw the last person he had expected to see. The Green Arrow! Green Arrow had his bow at the ready, aimed toward Batman.

"Stand down, I don't want this to get ugly." Green Arrow threatened.

"What? What are you doing here!" Batman demanded.

"LexCorp bought Ryker's, and they figured they needed some better guards if they were going to be holding Galatea. So they got Major Force from the V.O.P., and then they offered me the job. And I accepted it." Green Arrow explained.

"Why? It's not like you need the money!"

"Not everything is so black and white, bats. This isn't about money, I'm in it for the immunity." Green Arrow said.

"What the hell does that mean!" Batman barked.

"We're vigilante's, Batman. You're smart enough to know that the public doesn't exactly love us. And now Lex Luthor is in office, and he's forming all these organizations like the V.O.P., and he's funding Cadmus, and who knows what else. He's even equipping the regular police force to fight us, Batman. With Luthor as President, none of us vigilante's will be around much longer. They're hunting us more than ever. I'm just ahead of the game, you see, if I take this government job, then I'm not officially doing anything illegal, so I can't get in trouble. And I'm part of a program that hunts down criminals, I'm only a prison guard part time… so if you think about it, I'm still a hero, and I'm one who the world doesn't hate. I did the right thing." Green Arrow said, his voice cold and level.

"This is insane. Selling yourself out to Luthor… pathetic. You were never one stray away from your beliefs, Arrow. Never." Batman said in a highly disappointed tone.

"Well what would you expect me to do, Batman? Stand around and wait to be slaughtered! No, you might be too stubborn to see that this is a good thing, but I don't have that problem." Green Arrow argued. "Now I'll tell you one last time, Batman… stand down. Or I swear, I will shoot you down on the spot."

Batman held up his arms, but then quickly shot a wrist grapple into the rafters to escape. "Do you have the slightest idea what's going on, Arrow! Superman is killing people left and right! We have to stop him!" Batman shouted.

"Luthor will stop him! All he wants is power, you know that, and now he'll do whatever it takes to keep it! Lex Luthor really is a good president, because he wants to keep the power! If Superman is a problem, then you're just being an idiot and making a bigger problem!" Green Arrow shouted back, firing an explosive arrow into the rafters, trying to detect Batman based on his voice. He missed, and sent huge chunks of metal falling down, separating him and Batman from Question and Major Force.

Question was taking some abuse, Major Force had landed a near fatal punch on him. Now the Question could hardly stand.

"So before I kill you, tell me… is it true what Batman says? Is the big blue boy scout really killing people?" Major Force asked.

"Looks that way…" Question grumbled through the pain.

"Good, maybe now he'll actually cut loose and fight with all he's got. I'll have to go up against him sometime… but first, I'll finish you off!" Major Force shouted, sending another punch down. Question barely managed to roll out of the way.

Batman shot a net down toward Green Arrow, but Green Arrow sent a cluster arrow that shredded the net. "Got you now!" Green Arrow shouted, sending up an arrow that shot Batman in the leg! The dark knight fell from the rafters, but landed on his hands and sprung into a cartwheel, throwing down a series of gas pellets that blinded his opponent.

"Question!" Batman shouted, tossing two pairs of specialized knuckle dusters over to The Question. Question swiftly put the knuckle dusters on, and then delivered a punch to Major Force that actually did some damage! Enjoying that, Question began pounding the villain with a series of crushing blows.

Meanwhile, Green Arrow emerged from the smoke and struck Batman across the face with his steel-reinforced bow. This put Batman on the ground, but before he could shoot, Batman kicked as hard as he could and struck Green Arrow in the knee, causing him to fall as well. Batman then tackled him and rammed him face first into the floor.

"I don't want to hurt you!" Batman insisted.

"Funny, I don't want you to hurt me either." Green Arrow quipped before pulling an electric arrowhead out from underneath his glove and jamming it into Batman's shoulder, electrocuting the dark knight. He then prepared to finish the job with a powerful concussion arrow.

Major Force got in a good hit and slammed Question into a wall, before firing a powerful energy blast toward him. Question ducked, and the blast struck the concussion arrow, causing a massive blast that completely demolished the floor. All four of the fighters crashed hard down into the basement! Major Force immediately stood and fired blindly, blasting a hole in the ceiling high above them.

"I'm gonna kill you all!" He screamed, rushing toward Batman. Green Arrow shot Question with a boxing glove arrow, which caused Question to stumble painfully back into the wall behind him, but his hand touched cold steel. This would not have been odd, except that the room they were in was made of cement…

"No way!" Question shouted, feeling the steel behind him. Then he quickly charged at Green Arrow, which surprised the archer. Green Arrow prepared to shoot, but Question threw a knuckle duster into his face, ruining his aim. Question then tackled him, pulled an explosive arrow from his quiver, and jammed the arrow into the steel wall. A beeping began, and Question and Green Arrow both ran for cover, jumping and hitting the floor when the arrow exploded…

Batman was just standing when he was hit by a powerful fist from Major Force, completely disorienting him. Major Force lifted the hero by the throat, and prepared to fry him with an energy blast.

"Lets how long it takes to roast a bat with radiation!" Major Force shouted through an insane laugh, choking Batman all the while. But then there was a thundering explosion behind them, and Major Force turned his head to see that Question had used one of Green Arrow's weapons to destroy the wall behind him. But why?

The smoke began to clear, and Green Arrow, suddenly interested, shined a flashlight arrow inside. Inside the wall was a woman with short blonde hair, wearing a prison jumpsuit. She had sparkling blue eyes, shiny smooth skin, attractive red lips… she was beautiful.

"No way…" Green Arrow muttered.

"Her cell was disguised as a basement wall… very creative." Question sighed.

Galatea stood slowly in her cell, her hands encased in shackles. She slowly stepped out into the basement, a smile on her face. She looked up toward the hole Major Force had made in the ceiling. The sun was just rising, and some light was beginning to shine through onto her. She was even more breathtaking then. Her body seemed to harness the light, radiate in it.

"Oh yeah…" She moaned, pulling her arms apart and easily destroying her shackles. "That feels good!" She exclaimed, spreading her arms in the light. The yawned as if she were just waking up from a long sleep, and then she rested on hand on her hip, and scanned the room. "Interesting little shindig going on here. What did you boys have in mind for me?" She smiled.

Major Force, who had stopped choking Batman but hadn't put him down, smiled dumbly. "Who is that sexy little-" He began to speak, but before he finished his sentence she fired a blast of heat vision that struck him in the face, blasting him deep into the wall.

"Watch your mouth big guy. Or else I'll have to weld it shut!" She threatened, heat vision still glowing in her gaze.

"So you release one killer to fight another? Great strategy Batman!" Green Arrow shouted.

"Batman? So you let me out?" She asked, looking to the dark knight.

"Actually, I did it. Batman is just an accomplice." Question said.

"Well then, I guess I owe you one." She sighed.

Suddenly she vanished in a blur of super speed, and then Green Arrow was struck by a thundering punch. She came in to focus right in front of him, which her fist driven deep into the archer's abdomen. Then she swung her other fist into his face, sending him spiraling across the ground hard. She went into another burst of super speed and stepped on him, stopping his roll and breaking more ribs.

"Boor-iii-ng." She sighed, kicking the hero extremely high, sending him sailing out of the basement. There was a loud crash from far off, but they could not even see where he had landed. Major Force began to crawl from the rubble behind him, grunting with rage. "Maybe this one will be a bit more fun." She smiled, pushing a strand of hair out of her face. Major Force released a powerful blast of black energy, and in response Galatea held her hands out in front of her. Her hands easily stopped the blast like it was nothing!

"My turn!" She exclaimed, flying toward him and smashing him with a series of devastating punches, literally putting visible dents in his body! Her strength was at the very least equal to Major Force's, possibly greater, and she was taking advantage of it. She pummeled Major Force a little more before grabbing him by the throat and hovering up out through the hole in the ceiling, flying up into the stratosphere. Then she kissed Major Force on the cheek before saying, "Goodbye, big guy." Then she threw him down back toward the Earth!

Major Force sailed down like a meteor, becoming a ball of flame. He crashed hard into the prison, demolishing most of the building! A huge crater was left in the area. Galatea flew easily back down toward Batman and Question, who had now climbed out into the open. "And all the kings horses and all the kings men, couldn't put the big jackass together again." She said, looking toward the crater Major Force had made when he landed.

Then she turned and faced the awestruck Batman and Question, both in stunned silence. "Um, _you're welcome._" She said sarcastically.

"Thanks." Question shrugged. "Now, we have a proposal to make." He started.

"Whoa, no!" She said abruptly. "I already repaid you two. Now I'm off." She turned to fly away, but suddenly felt extremely sick, and fell the ground shaking.

Batman had drawn a shard of kryptonite from his utility belt, he always carried it just in case. "I suggest you listen to us, or I'll jam this down your throat!" He threatened.

"You drive a hard bargen." She said through a pained grin. "What do you want from me?"

"Superman is out on a sudden killing spree. We're trying to stop him, and we want you to back us up in case things get ugly." Question said, telling the short version.

"Superman… why didn't you just say that in the first place? I'll kill him anytime, just to piss of his annoying little cousin." Galatea said. Batman nodded and put the shard away, but his glare made it clear that he would take it out again if she got out of line.

A group of guards arrived and immediately opened fire. The bullets bounced harmlessly off of Galatea's body, and she released a wave of super breath that knocked them all off their feet. She then grabbed Batman and Question and flew off. By the time the soldiers got to their feet, their targets were gone.

The group landed on top of a building in Metropolis, and she sat on the ledge casually. Question and Batman watched her from the other side of the rooftop.

"You really think we can trust her?" Batman asked.

"For now, we have to." Question said with uncertainty. "She's eager to go against Supergirl, and so she's happy to go against Superman, so at least she has motivation to help us. Plus, to be honest, I've never really thought Galatea was all bad. She's really a good person, she was just utterly brainwashed by Cadmus." Question said.

"A good person wouldn't slaughter civilians." Batman snapped.

"Like I said, Cadmus brainwashing." Question shrugged.

"Whatever. It isn't important right now, what's important is that we need to take shelter. We can't just stand around in the open like this." Batman said, preparing to walk off. "Come on, we'll go to the batcave." He said.

"Batman… just one quick question… you wouldn't really have shoved that kryptonite down her throat, would you?" Question asked expectantly.

"Why do you care?" Batman asked.

"Because we're trying to catch a killer, Batman. That doesn't mean we have to become killers." Question said very seriously.

"No, I wouldn't have. Now lets move." Batman insisted, continuing forward.

"Hey guys!" Galatea called from the other side of the building. Batman remembered for the first time that Galatea possessed super hearing, she had probably heard the entire conversation anyway. He would have to be more careful of that in the future.

"What is it?" Question asked calmly.

"If I'm going to be your bodyguard, I'm gonna need more information. On this whole situation, I mean. I want all the details." Galatea said sternly.

"Come on, I'll explain on the way." Question promised, and the three of them took off.

_Meanwhile, at a LexCorp boardroom…_

Superman hovered above the building listening intently with his super hearing.

"There is a large meteor headed toward Pluto. This meteor contains large quantities of kryptonite." One voice said.

"We are well aware of that." Another voice said.

"Good. I trust you are also aware of project CORRUPTION?" The first voice asked.

"Yes." The second voice responded.

"Well some of us in the board are worried about the subject getting out of hand, and if we lose control of the situation… it would be catastrophic. So, tomorrow we will send a one man space shuttle up into space. The shuttle will intercept the meteor, extract the kryptonite, and bring it back to Earth. Then we can use it as a weapon, in case the project gets out of hand. The one manning the space shuttle will be one of our finest astronaughts, a man by the name of Hank Henshaw. But this entire mission is to be kept under wraps, is that understood?"

"Yes." The second voice replied.

"Good then. We'll need the V.O.P. to ship over Major Force to aid Captain Atom in making sure the launch goes smoothly. Major Force had some… issues at Ryker's Island, this will be his chance to redeem himself." The first voice finished.

"Done. Major Force will be at the shuttle to protect the launch." The second voice replied.

"Good." Then the two men formally said goodbye, and the first voice exited the building. Immediately, Superman snatched him up and flew into the air.

"What the uh.. no! Not you!" The man screamed.

"What is project CORRUPTION!" Superman demanded.

"I- I can't tell, I really can't! If I try then this heart monitor hear will kill me!" He said, showing Superman a LexCorp issue heart monitor.

"Fine then. Where's the launch!" Superman roared.

"The NASA station in Metropolis! Tomorrow afternoon!"

"Thanks." Superman said. He then dropped the man, who went falling and smashed into the hood of a moving car. Blood immediately began to seep all over the road. Just another victim.

Sounds like I'll be visiting NASA tomorrow…" Superman smiled. "But for tonight, there are more criminals to kill… and then there's J'onn, I'll need to finish him soon..." Superman mumbled to himself. Then he heard sirens off in the distance. With his super hearing, he listened on the police radio, and heard that the villain known as Fastball was causing trouble.

"Hmm… I wonder how I'll kill this one… maybe a nice spine rip." Superman said with a laugh as he flew off into the night, headed toward another kill.


	7. Punishment Before Crime

Chapter Seven: Punishment before Crime

Superman was out on patrol. He had already killed six people, because he had caught them littering in a park. He still had not had the opportunity to finish off J'onn, not with Flash and Hawkgirl buzzing around the building. Sure, he could have killed them both, but then there would be no one left to take the fall. Superman shook his head while flying. He did not have time to be thinking about these things. He had something more important to do. He arrived at NASA within a few minutes, which was now owned by LexCorp. There would soon be a covert launching. A rocket would be launched into space here, but there was reportedly a chemical leak in the area, so no one was around to see it. The perfect cover up, the world would be completely unaware of the launch. The JLA would have had Superman wait back and not get involved unless it became a problem, but now Superman was through playing that game, he was going to stop the launch before it happened. After all, President Lex Luthor had orchestrated it all; nothing good could come of it. Superman flew up into a cloud bank so that he would not be detected, and looked down with his x-ray vision, but it was no good. The entire complex had been reinforced with lead. Superman could not see through lead. He flew down with incredible speed to the launch site, and hid behind a tower. The rocket was more of a space station, it was massive. Garage doors opened, and a group of five figures stepped out. Among them were Major Force and Captain Atom.

Captain Atom was a hero, but he was also a soldier. It wasn't the first time he had sold himself out to the government. He disgusted Superman. The other three people were Dr. Hamilton, who was a S.T.A.R. Labs scientist, Hank Henshaw, he would be the astronaut going into space. The fifth person was Hank's wife, whose name Superman did not know. "Here is the shuttle you will be travelling in, Mr. Henshaw." Dr. Hamilton said.

"You mind telling me exactly what I'm going to be doing in space?" Hank asked.

"Don't worry about that, Mr. Henshaw. All you have to do is report back to us on your coordinates daily. The shuttle is programmed to do the rest; you'll hardly have to lift a finger."

"Okay, then what is the shuttle doing?"

"Again Mr. Henshaw, don't worry about that."

"Be safe." Hank's wife said.

"I will, darling." Hank promised. Superman cracked a smile. No amount of safety would help him. Superman glanced up at the bodyguards, Major Force and Captain Atom. He would have to catch them off guard. Hank began to board the shuttle. Superman zoomed out to stop him. But just before Superman was about to get onto the shuttle, he was struck hard by Major Force. Superman sailed into a wall, caving it in. A cloud of dust rose around him.

"Well, well, well, the big blue Boy Scout showed up for a beating." Major Force said with a smile, cracking his knuckles loudly. Superman got to his feet, ready for a fight. Captain Atom stepped up next to Major Force.

"Mr. Henshaw, get off the ground now!" Captain Atom demanded. Hank Henshaw heard this cry and activated the thrusters. The shuttle began to leave the ground. Superman zoomed around past Major Force, but Captain Atom reacted and let loose all the energy he had been storing up, blasting Superman down. Superman began to get to his feet, a smoldering hole in his cape and in the back of his suit, revealing charred flesh. Major Force leapt into the air and came down with unbelievable force, Superman barely managed to get out of the way before Major Force smashed into the ground, creating a massive impact. Major Force doubled back and fired a powerful black energy blast from his hands, striking Superman and sending him tumbling through the air, only to be caught in a crushing embrace by Captain Atom. Captain Atom crushed as hard as he could, and felt the man of steel's ribs crack. Captain Atom was a powerful hero, but Superman's strength was still greater. If he could just get his arms free…

Major Force blasted Superman again, focusing only on the face this time. Superman screamed as the energy slowly burned away his steel-like flesh. In a bout of desperation, Superman huffed with his super breath as strongly as he could, sending Captain Atom flying backwards through the air. Captain Atom crashed into a flag pole, completely bending out of shape. He slouched down, and Superman ripped himself free, lifted the Captain into the air, and chucked him at Major Force, putting them both on the ground. Superman then took off into the air after the shuttle, which had not yet escaped the atmosphere. But he found himself dodging more energy blasts, as Major Force fired from below. Major Force then leapt into the air, pounding Superman with three thundering punches. Superman delivered an equally devastating punch into Major Force's throat, causing him to choke on his own blood. Superman then punched the invulnerable tank of rage in the jaw, sending him spiraling down. He knew that Major Force would not be down for long. Major Force was never down for very long. He took off, full speed this time, but Captain Atom had taken off in flight and came up next to Superman! Major Force fired an energy blast into Captain Atom, who absorbed the energy. Great, Major Force was acting as a battery for Captain Atom! Superman purposely stopped flying and fell back behind the other hero, and released a gust of freeze breath, which froze up Captain Atom's feet. The hero began to fall, his weight too much in the back. He began to melt the ice with radiation, but in his confusion Superman delivered a kick to his chest that send him spiraling down like a meteor! Superman watched him crash into the fueling station below, and he fired a wave of heat vision into the fuel tanks, creating a massive, fiery explosion that caught both the enemies. Captain Atom and Major Force were probably both dead. Good. Superman turned around and went after the space shuttle, which was just now beginning to exit the atmosphere. Superman caught the shuttle just in time and ripped the entire back door off!

"W- what are you doing!" Hank Henshaw screamed.

"My job. Keeping people safe. Nothing good can come of this little exhibition." Superman yelled, flying in toward Hank.

"P- Please Superman… I- I got a wife down there!" Hank begged.

"Not anymore." Superman said darkly, firing a shot of deadly heat vision down at Mrs. Henshaw. She immediately burst into flames, and her scream could be heard even from where they were.

"No! You- You monster!" Hank shrieked.

"Don't worry. You'll be able to join her very soon." Superman said, shooting Hank as well. Hank fell back into the control consol, streaking blood. Half of his flesh had been burned off! "Good bye." Superman said with a wicked gleam in his eyes. He then fired heat vision down into the floor, right where the gas tank is located. Hank reached for his gun, but it was too late. The shuttle burst into the flames, and Hank Henshaw died. A few remaining chunks drifted off into space, but they were no threat. Superman flew back down to Earth, smiling the whole way.

_Meanwhile… _

Green Lantern sat perched atop a building, thinking. "I guess I should go back to headquarters now… Shayera's probably worried about me." He stood and stretched his arms in the sun. "I hope J'onn's ok." He sighed hopefully.

But as he was getting ready to take off, he heard a massive, thundering explosion not too far off. "What the hell is that…?" He turned to see a dome of fire off toward the NASA Space Station, and then a slightly smaller explosion in the sky above it. Soon the explosion faded, and Green Lantern immediately flew off to see what was going on. A few moments later he arrived at the NASA Space Station, which lay in ruins! Everything had been destroyed in the explosion. He heard a rustling over to the left, and then held out his fist. A luminescent but solid light shone from the ring, and began pushing away rubble. Underneath some of the debris was the damaged, broken body of Captain Atom, moaning painfully. Green Lantern ran over to him immediately.

"J- John?" the Captain groaned.

"It's me, cap. What happened here?"

"S- S- Superman… stop him… please…" And that was all Captain Atom managed to say before he fell into unconsciousness, or maybe death, Green Lantern couldn't quite tell which. The hero stood and looked off into the horizon.

"Superman. Damn it I should have known!" He looked down and flashed a light from his ring. "I'll take him down tonight." Green Lantern said in a strong, confident tone of voice. "For Diana, and J'onn, and lord knows how many others!" He raised his glowing into the sky. "It ends tonight!"

_Meanwhile, at JLA Headquarters…_

Hawkgirl entered into the infirmary after she had checked to make sure Superman was not in the building. She moved over to J'onn, who had still not woken up from his battle with Superman. There were several candles lit throughout the room, to keep him from escaping if he did wake up. Hawkgirl sat down next to the bed and touched J'onn's shoulder.

"I know you didn't do it J'onn. I just don't know who did." She said distantly. "But I trust you… just like you always trusted me. Even… even when I didn't deserve any trust." A sad shadow slid into her eyes, remembering when she had betrayed the team for her home world.

"Huh… what am I doing. You probably can't even hear me." She smiled, but then J'onn's voice rang out like a knife inside her mind.

_"Yes I can. I hear every word!" _ He said.

"J'onn! Is that you?" She exclaimed.

_"Yes. My body is currently inactive, but my mind is actually very functional. Listen Shayera, please, this is important." _

"What is it?" She gasped.

_"The one behind the killings, and the disappearances, and the one who framed me, it's Superman." _

"Clark? Are you sure J'onn?" She gasped.

_"Yes, during our battle I read his mind. All he could think about was killing me, and his thoughts were filled with memories of other murder's too. Many other murders. He knows that Bruce is on to him, and he plans to try and frame him next, but first he wishes to finish me off. Please Shayera, find help." _J'onn pleaded.

"Ok J'onn, I promise I'll try." She said through what was almost tears. J'onn was about to respond, but then she heard heavy footsteps down the hall. Superman had arrived back. She knew she had to leave quickly. "Goodbye J'onn, I'll come back later." She said in a whisper, then she left the room and ran to her own. She didn't know what to think. There was always the possibility that J'onn was lying to her, what if he really did do it? But the way Clark had been acting lately… she just didn't know.

During all this, Flash was watching old horror movies in his room, when there was a heavy knock on the door. "Yeah?" Flash called, and the door opened revealing Superman. The man of steel stepped in with an all-business look on his face.

"Where's Shayera?" He asked.

"Last I saw her she was talking in the infirmary visiting J'onn. She was talking to herself too, it was kind of weird." Flash said through a mouth full of popcorn.

"Really… and what about John? Has he been around lately?" Superman asked.

"GL? No, he hasn't been her since he flew off when we took down J'onn."

"Good to know. Good to know." Superman nodded. Then he turned and left Flash's room. Then he looked off toward Shayera's room. "Hmm… if I play this right,

maybe I can kill two birds with one stone." He smiled.

_A few hours later…_

Batman, Question and Galatea had taken a scenic route toward the batcave, not wanting to draw any attention to themselves. But as they moved through the woods, Galatea suddenly stopped.

"Wait!" She called.

"What is it?" Batman asked.

"No reason to walk anymore. I can get us shelter right here." She smiled.

"What do you mean?" Question asked. In response, Galatea turned to a large boulder to the left of them, at the base of a hill.

"One sec." She said, walking over to the hill. She then grabbed on the rock, and heaved it away, revealing an entrance into some sort of bunker inside the hill! "This is an old Cadmus hideout, it isn't in use anymore." She said, entering in. Batman and Question cautiously followed.

The room was filled with supplies like food, mattresses, and a radio. "This was supposed to be a hideout place in case of… well in case they needed to hide from something." She said.

"Why isn't it in use anymore?" Batman asked.

"I don't know, probably spiders or something." She shrugged, plopping down on a mattress. "I know one thing; I need to find something else to wear. This jumpsuit is really bothering me." She sighed.

Batman and Question sat in the far corner. "So what next? What's are plan of action?" Question asked.

"I say we go back to the place where this all started. The bank where that little girl died, that was when Superman started slipping down the deep end." Batman said.

"It's a good thought, except I just don't know what we could find there." Question shrugged.

"Then what do you suggest?" Batman said.

"We need to find where Superman is keeping all these bodies. If he's killing people, there have to be bodies right? We find them, we have proof."

"Good plan, except that there are about a million places where they could be hidden!"

"It would make sense to check his fortress of solitude, nobody else goes there right?"

"No Question, it wouldn't make any sense for us to go there. That's his castle, and we can't afford to step off our playing field. Or we'll die." Batman snapped.

"Why don't you just find Zatanna?" Galatea called from across the room.

"Zatanna? What for?"

"She can talk to dead people and all that, right? Have her ask the victims where their bodies are at." She said as if it were no big deal. Batman and Question suddenly felt like idiots.

"We probably should have thought of that before." Question laughed.

"Maybe. We'll track down Zatanna, but first we make a quick stop at the bank where that girl died. I need to look for something…" Batman said vaguely.

"What?" Question asked.

"Lets just say that if I find what I think I might find, then Superman isn't the only criminal here." Batman said, and Question and Galatea decided to not ask anymore questions.

"You know he's going be coming after us soon." Question said. "He knows you're onto him right? First he'll eliminate the closer threats like J'onn and probably Green Lantern, but then he's coming after us." Question said grimly.

"I know. That's why we recruited her." Batman looked toward Galatea.

"Yes, but it's no secret that we busted her out of Ryker's, Batman. We made a pretty big scene back there. So it's not like he hasn't heard about it by now, he most likely has."

"What are you getting at Question?"

"He's going to attack in more ways than one. That whole little bat family thing you've got going on, none of them are safe." Question said.

"They can all handle themselves." Batman said.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I trained them." Batman said it with absolute confidence. "They'll be fine. It's getting dark now, let's eat, rest up a little, and then move out." Batman said.

"Fine. Just one more thing Batman… why do you really want to go the bank where that girl died? Is it because you really want to find something, or is it because your afraid to go to Zatanna, because she can verify that Diana is dead." Question said.

Batman said nothing, so Question continued. "If we talk to Diana's spirit, then she's dead, that much is obvious. I think you're afraid to go to Zatanna, so you're sending us on this crazy bank detour. Am I right?" Question demanded.

"Eat, rest, and then we'll head out." Batman repeated. And that was the end of the conversation.


	8. Extinguishing the Light

**Quick Authors Notes- ****I just wanted to say that I am not really happy with the way this chapter turned out, and it might be updated later on. I also want to thank everyone for the reviews so far, keep on reading everyone! **

Chapter Eight: The Light Extinguished

"Help! Someone please help!" A woman screamed from the streets below. Superman flew down and landed in front of her, standing tall of powerful.

"What's the problem, ma'am?" He asked darkly.

"Oh, Superman! Thank goodness! My kitty, Mr. Mittens, he's stuck up in that tree and-" Before she could get the rest out, Superman fired dual beams of laser vision in the tree, setting the treetop ablaze and charring everything. The cat fell to the ground, little more than charcoal now.

"He's out." Superman said.

"M- Mr. Mittens!" The woman cried, tears streaming down her face. "How could you! You monster!" She shouted to Superman. Superman lifted her up and slammed her against the tree.

"Listen lady, I'm not the damned fire department okay! I am superhero, I do jobs that regular people can't, because I'm better then them, got it? Anyone with half a brain could have gotten the stupid cat out the tree! Clearly, you don't apply! So the next time you have a problem with a stupid cat, call the fire department or something, because they actually care! They don't have anything better to do! But you know what lady, I do!" Superman screamed into her face, causing the woman to cry harder.

"Ok, ok, ok, ok, ok, ok!" The woman said between sobs. Superman dropped her on the ground and began to walk away, but suddenly a large, neon green bubble appeared around his head, instantly beginning to suffocate him.

"I can't let you leave, Clark." Green Lantern's voice called out from behind.

"Get out of here while you still have a chance, John!" Superman called from inside the bubble. In response, GL only constricted the bubble even further, suffocating Superman even more. "Your funeral." Superman smiled with the last of his air.

Then he fired a powerful beam of heat vision that caused the bubble to explode from the inside! Instantly, Superman flew backward to pound his opponent. Green Lantern put up a wall of energy just in time, and Superman's fist made contact with it instead. Superman got angry and began hitting harder, smashing through the wall. This began a series of repetition, Green Lantern put up a new wall as Superman destroyed an old on, and Superman continued to destroy them. The whole time the two of them were backing up swiftly.

"You can't keep this up forever John!" Superman yelled.

"What the hell happened to you Clark? What finally put you over the deep end?" GL demanded, then he was finally struck by a punch that sent him sailing up into the air.

He eventually caught himself and began levitating. He created a massive boxing glove out of the emerald energy, and punched the oncoming Superman hard. Superman flew into the top of a nearby building, caving in a section of windows. Superman crawled out of the rubble and cracked his knuckles.

"Oh, I don't know, a little of everything I guess. Stress, anger, fear, maybe even a hint of jealously, it all came together and made me want to kill. And you know what, I like it. Hell, I love it!" Superman called.

"This can't be right, something has to be messing with his head… but it doesn't matter right now. I have to stop it, no matter what it is." Green Lantern said to himself.

"You know John, I think Shayera might be starting to get ideas too. I thought about killing her today, but for now I still need her. She's so easy to control, but you know all about that, don't you?" Superman mocked. That made GL angry.

"Stay away from her!" Green Lantern roared, creating an energy cannon with his ring and blasting toward Superman. Superman easily dodged and flew around back. Green Lantern created a series of energy arrows that rained down toward Superman, but he blew them all off course with super breath and kept moving forward. GL put up an energy armor just as he was struck in the face, sending him flying. He eventually recuperated after soaring for about a mile.

"If it weren't for this armor, that punch would have killed me instantly. He means business." Green Lantern said to himself.

Superman began soaring in super fast circles around Green Lantern, firing off bursts of heat vision, all of them blocked with the emerald energy. Green Lantern then went in with his armor still in tact and struck Superman hard, doing some damage. A fist fight broke out between the two, they punched the crap out of each other until they couldn't see straight. But GL's armor was quickly breaking down. He sent a surprise energy blast that blew Superman back. He then made a giant energy hammer and swung it downward, sending Superman flying straight down into the concrete below. Green Lantern then formed a giant green buzz saw, and hurled the spinning weapon down at Superman. It sliced the killer's arm, but he continued to move in mercilessly. Green Lantern had had enough. He channeled all of the ring's remaining energy into one, final blast. But as the blast was charging up, it was struck by a beam of heat vision, destroying the neon green weapon! There was a massive green explosion that nearly severed Green Lantern's arm. Superman appeared behind him and wrapped his arm hard around his throat, choking him.

"I could kill you, but I might need some leverage against Shayera later on. So for now, I'll have to settle for torture." Superman smiled, and then flew off into the night with the now unconscious Green Lantern slung over his shoulder.


	9. Dreams

Chapter Nine: Dreams

Wally West was completely passed out when the knock on the door woke him up. "Go away!" He shouted, pulling a pillow over his head. The knocks continued. He ignored. Then there was a massive smash, and his door broke off the hinges and flopped onto the floor! Standing in the doorway was Shayera, out of costume as to be expected at two in the morning. Her mace was at her side, she had just used it to demolish Wally's door.

"Whoa! Was that really frickin' necessary?" Wally shouted, looking at her.

"I need to talk. Now." She said, sitting down on the foot of his bed.

"Um… ok…" Wally groaned, sitting up. But he was sure to keep himself covered, and Shayera realized that he was naked underneath the sheets.

"Uh! Get some clothes on first!" She shouted.

"You're the one who busted the door down, it was locked for a reason!" He retorted. But then there was a quick blur, and he was suddenly clothed. "Happy now?"

She did not respond. The shadow of a deep worry shone in her eyes. "Never mind, I shouldn't have come to you. You can't take anything seriously." She said sadly, getting up to leave.

"Hold on a minute-" Wally said, suddenly sounding sympathetic. He grabbed her wrist to keep her from walking away. "What's bothering you?" He asked.

"I'm afraid." She said, sitting back down.

"Afraid of what?"

"I don't know… of everything, I guess. There's been so much lately… Diana vanished out of thin air, Bruce has suddenly dropped off the radar, J'onn is supposedly a killer, John hasn't been seen in almost three days now, and…" She paused.

"And what?" Wally pursued.

"And I, I think Clark might be the killer."

"Wait, Clark Kent? The Superman we all know and love? Have you been drinking tonight?"

"Please listen to me Wally. You know he's been acting strange lately, and then he suddenly had us attack J'onn, and then… J'onn spoke to me today, telepathically… he said it was Clark who killed all those people, and he framed J'onn…"

"Wow. Well, have you considered that J'onn could be making that up? I mean, I don't like it anymore than you do, but the alternatives aren't any better." Wally said.

"I know. It's kind of a lose-lose situation for us. No matter what the truth is, it's a bad one."

"Want me to call GL? I know you two kind of have a thing and-"

"I already tried." Shayera cut him off. "He won't answer. Or maybe he can't answer… that's what I'm afraid of."

"Well, I could go looking for him if you want. I haven't been out of HQ must lately anyway."

"No, it's fine. I don't want you to do that. I want you here." She said, tears beginning to stream down her face.

"Um… don't take this the wrong way but, why? I mean, you and I have never exactly been great friends. You usually don't talk to me."

"I need someone Wally, and there's no one else left. Obviously I can't talk to Clark, there's a chance he might kill me." She said, her voice shaking now.

"Oh, I get it… I'm your last resort guy. You come to me when there's no one better." He said distantly, slouching down.

"No, it's not like that Wally. I just-"

"It's fine, don't worry about it." Wally said, cutting her off. "You aren't the only one. I'm the fallback guy. I'm used to it."

"What does that mean?"

"It means I'm the weak link. I'm the butt of everyone's jokes, the punching bag. It's alright, I understand how it is. It's nothing new."

"Don't think like that Wally, we all love you."

"You're full of crap. There's nothing to love, I get it. I'm not super strong, I don't fly or read minds or deflect bullets, I'm not smart or inventive. I run fast. That's all I do. I'm perfect if you want to win a marathon, and useless if you want to do anything else." He then looked her deep in the eyes. She had never realized how much his eyes sparkled.

"Wally… I never knew you felt that way." She said sympathetically.

"Well, now you do." He said, suddenly retreating from all emotion. But he quickly came back, wanting to vent a bit further. "I don't belong here, this is where the most powerful heroes on Earth get together and battle the forces of evil. That's you and the others. Me… I'm a sideline guy, a benchwarmer, a water boy. The most useful I can actually get is running around and hoping to distract somebody. I don't fit in here, to be honest I don't really fit in anywhere. I'm a freak to regular people, and a loser to superpowered people."

"I know the feeling." Shayera said in an understanding tone.

"You do?" Wally asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow.

"You think I feel like I belong here? Anything but. I'm a giant pigeon swinging a mace!"

"A pigeon huh? Funny… I always thought of you more like an angel."

"An angel? A bit cliché don't you think?" She grinned.

"Seriously though, one day you just came out of the sky and… and you were so beautiful, yet so powerful. You had seen so much evil, yet you were so pure. I wasn't there, of course, but I imagine it was pretty damn awe inspiring." Wally smiled. Then after a long pause, he said, "And don't get the wrong idea, I'm not hitting on you or anything. I guess what I'm saying is that I kind of envy you."

"Me? Really?"

"Yeah, I mean, you've got everything! You're ridiculously hot, and at the same time you could beat the crap out of just about anyone on Earth. You can soar faster than a plane, or walk casually down the street and either way, you look perfectly natural. Whether you're in the sky or among the people, you fit right into the picture, like you're supposed to be there, like you belong. I only wish I could feel that way."

"Funny… I've always been kind of jealous of you. You're always so happy and care free, nothing seems to bother you all that much, you just move through life with a smile on your face, no matter how much life beats you down. You have a whole museum dedicated to you! That's how much people love you! I'm so jealous of everything you have, Wally. I would kill to live your life."

"Wow… thanks." He looked her in the eyes again. "If we don't get killed by Superman tonight, we should talk more." He laughed. She laughed too.

"See! That's what I mean Wally! I just told you that the man of steel might be a cold blooded murderer, the same person who's bedroom is right next to yours for crying out loud, and you can laugh about it! I wish I could do that."

"You can. You just did." Wally said.

"Yeah, I guess I did."

Suddenly there was a loud scream from down the hall.

"What's that!" Shayera shouted.

"I'm not waiting around to find out." Wally replied quickly. Then there was another blur, and suddenly he was suited up in the Flash costume. Shayera grabbed her mace, and the two of them headed down the hall to see what was going on.

To their great relief, Superman had not returned to the headquarters yet. Instead, J'onn had finally woken up from his coma. He had attempted to leave the infirmary, but the candles lit in the room were harming him. He lay in a heap on the floor, nearly melting.

"Let's help him!" Shayera shouted, beginning to run toward the room, but Flash grabbed her arm, holding her in place.

"Wait… what if you're wrong? What if he really is the killer? If we help him, we'd be helping a murderer."

"Wally please, you have to trust me. He didn't do it, I know he didn't."

"But-"

"Trust me, please." She repeated. After a long pause, Flash sighed

"Ok. But if he gets up and kills us, I am so not gonna be your friend anymore."

"Shut up Flash."

_Meanwhile…_

Superman stood proudly above the bloodied body of his latest kill, the villain known as The Electrocutioner. He was a small time villain, strictly D list, but he had killed before and he would have killed again, so Superman took great pleasure in killing him.

"So much to do now… I'm so busy. I'll have to kill Bruce pretty soon, and then there's Cadmus to deal with… and I should go after Luthor at some point during all this. And then I can't forget I still have J'onn to finish off, and I'll have to put together my plan for John and Shayera too. So much to do… which comes first?" He said to himself, pacing around the room for a bit. Then, as if a sign from some evil god, a vampire bat flew through the window, drawn by the sent of Electrocutioner's blood. The bat landed not far from Superman, and the man of steel laughed out loud. "The bat it is then." He said as he raised his foot and stepped on the bat, crushing the creature.

_Earlier that day, At the Kent Farm…_

Kara woke up sweating and panting heavily. She had just had another nightmare… the kind she hadn't had in almost three years. Images of her violently killing and maiming others, or maybe it wasn't her… in the past she had seen images of Galatea's actions in her dreams, but that was impossible. Galatea died a long time ago. Kara shook these thoughts from her head and got out of bed. She had been spending the summer at the Kent Farm, as a sort of vacation for her. She wanted to get away from all the fighting for a while. The stress of being a hero, and having so much responsibility. She figured a farm in Smallville, Kansas was the best place to do that. She got dressed and headed downstairs, where Jonathon and Martha Kent were already up and active. That was to be expected, considering Kara had slept until almost two in the afternoon.

"And the dead girl walks!" Jonathon Kent shouted from the living room.

"Hah-hah, uncle John." Kara laughed, heading into the kitchen, where Martha was already starting dinner.

"Oh dear, you're covered in sweat! Do you feel sick?" Martha Kent asked.

"No, I just had a pretty freaky nightmare… that's all." Kara shrugged.

Later that day, Kara was out in the field doing work for the Kent's. That was the deal they had struck; Kara spent the summer with them if she did her share of the work. Not that she minded it; she actually kind of enjoyed it. But while out in the field, she began to doze off into a daydream. Then suddenly there were flashes of Galatea, again. This time it was much more vivid, Galatea was with Batman and The Question, and they were… they were killing Superman! Suddenly Kara snapped out of the daydream, but was now worried. This was the same thing she had experienced three years ago, she knew it. She could feel it. She and Galatea were genetically linked, and Kara often saw images of what Galatea had done… and sometimes, very rarely, she saw images of what Galatea had not done yet but was going to do. And there was no way in hell she was letting her kill her cousin! Kara ran to the Kent's house.

"Uncle Jonathon, Aunt Martha, I'm… uh, I'm going with some friends. I'll be back late, but I will be back, I promise!" She called.

"Alright then, be safe dear." Martha responded.

"Stay away from boys." Jonathon called. Kara then got outside and flew off, she had to warn her cousin.

_Back at JLA Headquarters…_

No sooner than Flash and Hawkgirl had helped J'onn out of bed, he was out cold again. His body was still very weak and he needed rest, but at least they knew he was recovering. They had decided to leave him in the infirmary and light the candles again, just so Superman would think he was still comatose. It was for J'onn's own good, whether he liked it or not. Flash and Hawkgirl had also decided to wait in the lobby, nearby the infirmary, to make sure Superman wouldn't go in and finish him off. Hawkgirl, drained by the events of the day, began to doze off several times. Flash noticed this.

"Hey, why don't you go to bed?" He said.

"No, I'm fine, I just-"

"Come on Shayera, you've been up almost three days straight, and even you need to sleep. I can keep watch for quite a bit longer, hell all I've done the last couple days is sleep. Get some rest, Shayera." Flash insisted.

He didn't have to tell her twice. She got up and headed toward her room. But when she entered and the door shut behind her, she was immediately greeted by Superman's cold, decisive voice.

"I've been waiting, Shayera." He said from the shadows. She gasped, and even worse, she realized she had left her mace in the lobby. Great, now she had no weapon.

"Clark, what are you doing in here?" She asked, deciding to play dumb.

"Shut up, Shayera. We both know you're on to me." Superman said violently. "I've got an offer to make… one that you really can't refuse."

"What do you want Clark?" She asked, trying to hide the fear in her voice.

Superman stepped out of the shadows and handed her an envelope. She opened the envelope up, and gasped at it's contents. Inside were photographs of Green Lantern's bloody, beaten, almost lifeless body. She dropped the photos on the floor, shaking.

"You- you monster!" She screamed.

"I thought about giving you a video, but I figured the photos were enough." Superman laughed. Shayera balled up her fists and swung at Superman, who easily blocked her punch and then shoved her to the other side of the room.

"Listen up. Your boyfriend is alive, for now. And if you do what I ask, I'll keep it that way."

"What do you want! What the hell could you want Clark?" She demanded between sobs.

"Kill J'onn by this time tomorrow, and I'll keep GL alive. But if J'onn lives, then I'll make you watch your boyfriend die, right before I kill you. Is everything understood?"

"How can you do this Clark? What happened that turned you into this monster…?"

"I got a taste of reality. The way I see it, everyone on this planet is the same, all of them vile, disgusting, selfish, immoral pigs. None of them deserve to live. I think I finally fully understand why I was sent to Earth, of all places… I think I was sent here to exterminate every single being here! But more to the point, you have until this time tomorrow, like I said. And by then, the Martian better be dead." Superman burned the photos away with his heat vision.

"I think you know what'll happen if you tell anyone?"

"I get it… John dies." She said, her voice full of hate.

"Good, you do understand. Oh, and Flash… he doesn't suspect anything, does he?"

"No… Wally doesn't suspect a thing…" She lied.

"Good. And if you're lying to me…" He pulled out one last picture of Green Lantern, and then burned it to show her what would happen. Then he left, leaving her there to make the hardest decision of her life.

A few hours later, Superman stepped out atop the JLA headquarters. He had just finished ransacking Batman's room, trying to find some clues as to his location. He had turned up empty. But then, he saw something coming in the distance. Within minutes he recognized the figure as Supergirl, his little cousin.

She landed in front of him, frantically. "Good, you're ok." She said, her voice full of relief.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Superman asked darkly.

"Well… remember Galatea? How I'm like, connected to her? Well I think she's alive, and I think she's with Batman and The Question… I've been getting visions. I don't know why, but I think they're going to try and kill you!" She warned.

"Really?" Superman asked, suddenly very interested. He walked over close to her. "With those visions of yours… do you think you could give me an idea as to where they are?"

"Maybe…" She said with uncertainty.

"Tell me everything you saw, in detail. I want anything about the location that you can come up with."


	10. War in Bludhaven

Chapter Ten: War in Bludhaven 

Batman, Question and Galatea arrived at a LexCorp National Bank late that night. They had entered in through a skylight on the roof, and dropped down into a control room. Batman immediately began tampering with the camera system, and a few moments, he stood.

"I set the security cameras on a two-hour rewind, which means that we have two hours in here to roam freely. That should be more than enough time." Batman said.

"Sounds good. What about the alarm system?" Question asked.

"I need a security code to shut that down. I could hack the system, but it'd waste too much time. We'll just have to be careful." Batman said.

"Fine. I don't see any guards on the security screens, but just to be sure… Galatea, check for any guards in the building." Question said.

"Sure." Galatea shrugged with clear boredom. She turned and began to use her x-ray vision, but soon shook her head. "No good. The walls are reinforced with lead, I can't see through them for crap." She sighed.

"Figures. This is a LexCorp bank, after all. Lex Luthor doesn't put his name on anything that isn't reinforced with lead." Question said.

They cautiously exited the control room, and found the hallways were clear. They moved down into the main lobby, still void of any security.

"Doesn't look like there any security guards here." Question said.

"That's what's bothering me." Batman said.

"Aren't I usually the paranoid one, Batman? Then again, it's understandable that you're on edge, what with Diana vanishing and all."

"Stay focused Question!" Batman shouted angrily.

"Ooh... sensitive subject bats?" Galatea asked half-mockingly.

The dark knight ignored her. He just moved over to the counter, where almost a week before, a four year old girl had been tossed by Toyman and hit her head, and was killed from the impact. The edge of the counter was still broken off where her head had made contact.

"Exactly what do you expect to find Batman?" Question asked, but again, Batman had no reply. He drew a pair of mini bat-binoculars. He zoomed in on the rug where the girl had died.

"I ran a profile check on the girl who supposedly died here, and there's one problem… she doesn't exist." Batman finally began to explain.

"What?" Question asked.

"According to the news, her name was Anna White. But when I ran a search on her, there was nothing. No birth certificate, no medical or dental records, no parents on record, nothing. It's like she doesn't exist. I need to investigate more." Batman said.

He searched for a bit longer with the binoculars, but eventually let out a sigh of disappointment.

"There's nothing on this damned rug but dust mites. I was hoping there would be some trace of DNA left." Batman said.

"Well duh, Lex Luthor is a billionaire, I'm pretty sure he can afford to have a rug cleaned!" Galatea shouted.

"Dust mites? Take some of those if you want DNA." Question said.

"How could I get DNA from dust mites?" Batman demanded.

"Dust mites eat dead skin, right? If a person died on that rug, they would have been all over it. They're small enough that I'm sure some of her skin hasn't digested yet, there might be enough to draw DNA from."

"That's brilliant… if it works, anyway." Batman said, drawing a pair of tweezers from his crime scene kit and picking up dust mites, putting them in a test tube.

"Um, hello, the rug was cleaned! That kind of tends to kill dust mites! They wouldn't be the same ones that ate her skin!" Galatea argued.

"There are more dust mites in the average room than there are people on the planet. It's unlikely that all of them were killed in the cleaning. And it's even more unlikely that all of the skin was washed off of the rug, even if they are all new dust mites, they've probably eaten fragments of skin already on the rug." Question explained.

"Gross." Galatea shivered.

After Batman had collected a significant number of dust mites, they began to leave.

"Something still doesn't seem right. There seem to be absolutely no security measures in this entire place, very odd for a LexCorp building." Batman said.

"Well as long as we get out of here alive, it isn't important." Question shrugged.

Then Galatea began to open the door. Instantly there was a loud beeping sound, and then a bright flash. Batman and Question, being several feet behind Galatea, were able to leap behind the counter and take cover. There was a blinding flash, and when it cleared, Galatea was unconscious on the ground.

"What happened?" Question asked.

"It's called a Sleeper Flash. Cadmus agents use smaller versions of them. It emits a flash that triggers certain chemical reactions in the brain, causing immediate unconsciousness to anyone who sees the flash." Batman explained.

"How long will she be out?" Question inquired.

"It can put a person to sleep for up to three days, unless they are awoken early by a second flash. But with Galatea's advanced physiology, I imagine she'll be awake in a couple of hours."

"Alright then, let's get her out of here. Then we can begin searching for Zatanna, while you work on extracting DNA from the dust mites." Question said.

"Yeah." Batman agreed. "Be careful though, this place is probably wired with more traps."

_Meanwhile, in Bludhaven…_

"I don't get why we're here Clark. In my last dream, Galatea was at a bank in Metropolis!" Supergirl stated.

"I know. I just need a little bit of… leverage." Superman said in a near-sinister tone.

"What does that even mean?" Supergirl asked impatiently.

"Just trust me, Kara. We have some work to do in Bludhaven before we go after Galatea and her little crew."

"Ok, whatever. What do we need to do?"

"Well, this will go faster if we split up. Go out and try to find information on the crime lord known as Blockbuster… any information you can get."

"What for Clark?"

"Like I said, just trust me. I'll explain everything later."

"You better." Supergirl grumbled, flying off into Bludhaven. "I'll call you if I find anything!" She yelled back before speeding up her flight.

Superman grinned. He knew exactly where he was going; he just needed to get rid of his cousin for a while. He soared off into the night, and within fifteen minutes he had reached his destination. A nightclub where some of Bludhaven's worst criminals hung out almost every night. Superman hovered in the window, careful not to be seen. He looked into the club, scanning over the crowd. Finally he found the man he had been looking for, Tony Zucco. Zucco was a mob boss who had for years been stationed in Gotham City, but had recently moved to Bludhaven. Zucco was sitting by the bar talking to some strippers at the club and pounding drinks. Must to Superman's delight, Zucco had a bit too much to drink and had to run out the back door to vomit. As Zucco entered into the back alley, he was snatched up by Superman and pulled high into the air.

"S- Superman! What the hell are you doing in Bludhaven!" Zucco screamed.

"Shut up." Superman warned. "I want answers. Now."

"Forget it. I'm not talking!" Zucco retorted. Superman grinned and placed to two fingers onto one of Zucco's ribs.

"Lets start with these…" Superman said, pinching down and snapping the rib like a twig! Zucco shrieked in agony, and Superman moved his fingers down to the next rib. "Are you ready to talk now?"

"N- not a chance…" Zucco winced, holding his ground. Superman pinched, breaking a second rib. Again, there was a scream from the helpless criminal.

"What do you want to know?" Zucco huffed, giving up.

"Blockbuster. You're his right hand man, right?"

"Yeah, me and the Block are tight. I'm pretty high up in his ranks." Zucco nodded.

"And Blockbuster has plenty of Bludhaven cops on his payroll, right?"

"Sure, more than half the police force in this city is corrupt." Zucco said, still having no idea where Superman was headed.

"Ok then, good. So if you have so much power in the mob, you could probably get a few cops to do a job for you, right Zucco?"

"Well that depends man, I don't know if-" Zucco started to argue, so Superman broke a third rib, inciting another shriek.

"Ok, ok, ok! I- I can get whatever you want done!" He cried.

"Good. President Lex Luthor is currently arming regular police forces to battle superhuman enemies. Rumor has it that a small shard of kryptonite was recently delivered to Bludhaven police force, in case they had to go up against me. I want you to go to some cop on Blockbuster's payroll, and I want you to tell him that Blockbuster needs that kryptonite. Tell him that it needs to be delivered tonight." Superman ordered.

"Why the hell would you want Blockbuster to get his hands on kryptonite?" Zucco asked, highly confused.

"All part of the plan." Superman smiled. "Oh, and make sure some rumors about this get circulating around. I want anyone with connections in Bludhaven's underworld to know about this, is that clear?"

"Um… sure…" Zucco groaned.

"Alright then. Have a nice night." And with that, Superman put Zucco back and the ground. "That kryptonite had better be on its way to Blockbuster, tonight." Superman reminded him, and then he flew off.

_Meanwhile, back at the abandoned Cadmus base…_

After a few hours of working, Batman had finally extracted a usable amount of DNA from the dust mites. But when he went to test it, something very strange happened. The skin samples seemed to melt, they turned to some sort of sick putty form, and then just sort of oozed out.

"I doubt that's normal." Question stated.

"No, but I think I may have seen this before…" Batman said.

"Of course you have." Question chuckled.

Batman took a small electric prodder, and poked it into some of the sludge. Then something odd happened, it began to morph. It took the shape of a cube, then a sphere, then a spike ball of sorts! Batman removed the prodder, and it fell into putty again.

"Just as I thought. It reacts to electrical impulses. I know exactly what this is." Batman remarked.

"And that would be what exactly?" Asked the Question.

But before Batman could answer, Galatea began to moan. They looked back to see her beginning to wake up. She sat up uncomfortably, having no idea what had happened.

"What's going on?" She asked, looking around the room.

"You fell into a trap back at the bank. You've been out cold for a couple hours." Question told her.

"Damn… guess I haven't been much help, huh?" She sighed, stretching. "And I had another one of those stupid dreams." She said.

"What dreams?" Batman asked.

"Doesn't Kara have them too? Just on the opposite end, right. When she sleeps, she see's what I'm doing, and when I sleep, I see what she's doing. It's really pretty annoying."

"What did you see this time?" Batman asked, curious.

"She was with Superman, and they were flying around Bludhaven for some reason. That's really all that I got out of it." She shrugged.

"Bludhaven!" Batman suddenly gasped, grabbing a communicator from his utility belt.

"Who are you calling?" Question asked. Then suddenly, it dawned on him. "Wait, you don't think Superman is going after-" Question shouted.

"That's exactly what I think." Batman said, cutting Question off.

"Tell him to get out of Bludhaven immediately." Question said.

"That would do no good, he's too stubborn. He usually doesn't have his communicator on him anyway." Batman said

"Then, I repeat, who are you calling?" Question asked again.

Batman was silent for a few moments. Then he said, "The Oracle."

_A half hour later, back in Bludhaven…_

The Oracle had received Batman's emergency call, and acted immediately. She sent two members of the Birds of Prey, Huntress and Black Canary, to Bludhaven. Helena Bertineli, a.k.a. Huntress, was relatively new to the Birds of Prey, but had proved her worth time and again. Dinah Lance, a.k.a. Black Canary, had been a long time member of the team, and though she admired Huntress, she did not fully trust her yet.

The two women arrived in Bludhaven quickly, both of them being avid motorcyclists.

"Took you long enough, Dinah." Huntress said, even though she herself had only been there about a minute before the other.

"Some of us try to drive safely, Helena." Black Canary called back.

"That's your problem, Dinah. You don't take enough risks. I mean, come on, we're already vigilantes. We shouldn't have to obey traffic laws." Huntress said, rolling her eyes.

"Stay focused, Huntress." Black Canary said, using her partner's alias instead of her real name to show that it was time for business. "We have to find Nightwing. You've more experience with the batclan than me, where do you suppose we should look?"

"If you want to find Dick, listen for the nearest gunshot. He'll most likely be there beating the crap out of the shooter."

"Sounds a lot like his mentor." Black Canary pointed out.

"No, he isn't really like Batman. He's… I don't know… lighter."

The two heroines head out into the night, soon traveling from rooftop to rooftop, searching. Eventually Huntress stopped at an old warehouse, and looked down in through a broken skylight. Black Canary was soon at her side, and they looked down to see a group of around thirty mobsters, talking. One of them looked like he had just been hit by a car, and he was the one talking.

"It was insane, he just came outta' nowhere! He took down Vinnie and Fuzz, I barely got away! He was asking Vinnie questions about the kryptonite deal going down tonight; I wouldn't be surprised if he showed up at the tradeoff!" The guy said.

"If Nightwing does show up there, then we need to go in later, after the altercation is over with, and take ourselves a cut of the money. I bet Blockbuster is paying a pretty high amount for that kryptonite stuff." Another thug said.

"Sounds like these guys know where Nightwing is headed." Black Canary said.

"Let's crash the party." Huntress nodded, leaping in through the skeleton of what used to be a skylight. She landed with a hard kick onto a guy's back, flinging him face first into the concrete. A few of the thugs opened fire on Huntress, and she quickly ducked behind a big guy behind her. The bullets riddled her involuntary human shield, killing the man. Huntress then leapt out from behind the corpse and fired off shots from her crossbow, impaling the arms of the shooters and causing them to painfully drop their guns.

Black Canary soon joined into the mix as well, greeting a man with a roundhouse kick to the jaw that sent him spiraling. She turned around and elbowed a guy in the throat, causing him to fall back. A thug came around behind her with a crowbar, but in mid swing she reached up and grabbed the weapon. Then she jabbed her elbow into his ribs, causing him to loosen his grip, and she took the weapon and spun around, smacking him in the side of the head with it. A man began drawing a gun, so she threw the crowbar into his face, knocking him out instantly.

Within a few minutes the women had cleared the room of all but a few criminals. Huntress rolled out to the side and fired a crossbow that severed a light fixture from the ceiling. The fixture fell down and almost crushed the remaining thugs! They barely made it out of the way, and Huntress leapt in, grabbed shards of glass, and threw them with deadly accuracy, slicing the legs of the remaining criminals. She then kicked one of them in the chest, grabbed him by the throat, slammed him against the wall, and balled up her fist. But before the punch made contact, Black Canary grabbed her arm and held her back.

"It's over Huntress, you win. Now put him down." She said.

"What? This guy shot at me and you expect me to just-"

"I expect you to do the right thing, Huntress! Excessive violence is not the way we operate. You could have killed them, you did kill one!"

"No, they killed him! I just happened to be the one they were actually trying to kill!"

"We both know that's not how it works, Huntress. Now put the man down, and chill out. Please." Black Canary ordered. Huntress sighed and stepped back, literally dropping the thug. He was barely conscious, but that was often the best time to question them.

"What's with this kryptonite deal? Where's it going down?" Black Canary demanded. He gave them the location of the deal, and then passed out. The two women got onto their bikes, and headed sped off to Blockbuster's hideout.

_Meanwhile, at the offices of Lex Luthor…_

The president sat in his office when he received a call from Dr. Hamilton, head of the CORRUPTION project and co-manager of the V.O.P., a very important man. "Hello, doctor. I trust the production of the Superdrones is going well?"

"Very well sir. We'll be ready to launch by tomorrow." Dr. Hamilton said from the other end.

"Perfect. Then it is time to begin phase three. Is the suit ready?"

"Almost, sir. I'm just making a few last minute modifications. But there's something you should know, sir… our V.O.P. spy in the Birds of Prey reported something rather unsettling. Apparently Batman has now included The Oracle in this. She has dispatched Black Canary and Huntress to Bludhaven, which happens to be the current location of the CORRUPTION subject. We fear that the outcome of this may be negative." Dr. Hamilton said.

"Then fix the problem before it even becomes one. Prep Green Arrow and Sonar to battle the two of them. Be sure to specialize Green Arrow's arsenal, especially. He may become a very vital asset to us during phase three." Luthor instructed.

"Yes sir. And what of Batman, Question and Galatea? They are becoming quite bothersome."

"I wouldn't worry about them quite yet. I want to see just how all of this unfolds."

"Very well sir."

"Oh, and Dr. Hamilton, about Oracle… we can't have her involved in this. Have our spy kill her."

"Of course sir."

"That will be all, Dr. Hamilton."

_Meanwhile, at Blockbuster's hideout…_

"Officer Scofield. What brings you here?" Blockbuster asked.

"The- The kryptonite you requested, sir." The corrupt police officer said.

"I requested no kryptonite. I wouldn't have any use for the stuff, I have no interest in going up against the big blue boy scout." Blockbuster said, anger lining his voice.

"But… but Zucco said…"

"Now you are calling Zucco a liar. Zucco is my best man. Insulting him is the same as insulting me. And I do not tolerate insults from anyone." Blockbuster announced. "Kill him." He said, looking over to one of his two bodyguards.

The bodyguard withdrew a machine gun and opened fire on the officer, killing him. Blood pooled around the body.

"On second thought…" Blockbuster said, "Take the kryptonite. It could be useful eventually, after all, I never know where my business will take me." Blockbuster said.

The other bodyguard picked up the box the cop had been carrying, and opened it up, revealing the glowing green rock. Then he closed it up again and handed it to Blockbuster. Blockbuster put the kryptonite in his coat pocket and turned to go back into his palace of a hideout.

Nightwing watched all this go down from top of the building, shrouded in shadows. "Sickening…" He mumbled under his breath. "Blockbuster goes down tonight." He promised to himself. Nightwing turned and sprinted across the rooftop, heading inside through a fire escape. He did a flip and smacked down two guards on the top floor, then continued on his way.

At the same time, Blockbuster entered into his main office, where his chair sat, the back of it facing him. And someone was in it! No one sits in Blockbuster's chair.

"Hey! I don't know who the hell you are, but pretty soon it won't matter. Dead men don't need names!" Blockbuster pulled out a pistol and fired off six rounds into the back of the chair.

But then the chair turned around casually, and in it was none other than Superman. "You…" Blockbuster recoiled, but then smiled. "Excellent timing." He said, pulling the box containing the kryptonite out of his pocket. But before he could open the lead box, Superman zoomed over and grabbed the giant's arm, snapping it like a twig. Blockbuster fell to the ground in agony.

"Why come after me, Superman?" He groaned.

"You're smart right… let's see if you can solve a little riddle." Superman said.

"A riddle?"

"What do you call a crime lord with a big head, and a broken arm?"

"What?"

"Dead bait." Superman said with a grin, firing a beam of heat vision into Blockbuster's enormous cranium. Superman then threw the corpse into the large wooden desk on the other side of the room, crushing it. With his super hearing, Superman heard his target approaching. He quickly zoomed out the window.

Nightwing kicked down the doorway into Blockbuster's office shortly after taking down the rest of the guards. But when he entered, he saw the dead, smoldering body of Blockbuster.

"What the…" He began to speak, when a taxi cab suddenly flew through the office window! Nightwing ducked underneath the sailing car, just barely avoiding it. A stream of oil was leaking out from under the still sailing vehicle, and a beam of heat vision flew into the room, striking the oil and causing a huge explosion that sent Nightwing flying into the opposite wall.

When the smoke cleared, Superman was in the room, looking down disdainfully upon Nightwing.

"Superman?" Nightwing gasped.

"What's up Dick?" Superman said, closing in on the young hero. Then he looked out through the hole in the window, as if he could hear something coming. He probably could. He smiled. "Show time." Superman said, picking up one of Nightwing's escrima sticks, which he had dropped during the blast, and threw it toward Blockbuster's body.

The escrima stick, thrown by Superman's powerful arm, hit with a heavy impact and suck deep into the dead Blockbuster's flesh, making it look like that was what killed him. Then Superman kicked open the box containing the kryptonite, and the radiation immediately began to affect him. He fell the ground, being harmed by the kryptonite. What was he up to?

Less than a second later, Supergirl arrived, flying in through the hole in the window. "Clark? I saw the explosion, and then I heard your voice and I… oh God!" She exclaimed, seeing her cousin being killed by the radiation. She was still too far away to be affected by it.

"Kara… he- he did this…" Superman groaned, pointing to Nightwing. "He killed Blockbuster… I tried to stop him but he had kryptonite…" Superman said, directing her gaze toward the body of Blockbuster, which had just been impaled by Nightwing's weapon.

"Oh my God…" She looked to Nightwing in disbelief. Then released a burst of super breath, blowing the box of kryptonite out the door and down the hall. Superman stood, slightly weary.

"Kara this is insane! Don't listen to him! I don't know what's going on here but-" Nightwing started, but was then struck by a powerful kick from her.

"Sorry Dick, but this really doesn't look good for you." She said, trusting her cousin. Nightwing glanced down the hallway. His only chance was to get to that kryptonite, but would he be fast enough? He decided not, he would need some sort of distraction. But what could distract a pissed off Superman and Supergirl?

Nightwing decided it would be better to think somewhere where his life wasn't in danger. He withdrew a grapple and fired it outside, it latched onto a tower outside the building. He began pulling himself out of the room on the grapple, but Superman was faster. He flew in and snapped the line with his bare hands. Nightwing began falling down, and then Superman started soaring down toward him. Nightwing drew two black and blue birdirangs and threw them up toward his attacker, but they simply shattered against Superman's flesh.

Nightwing back flipped out of the way just as Superman sped up, and the man of steel missed his target. Nightwing then planted his feet on Superman's shoulders and sprung out toward a series of barns out in the parking lot behind Blockbuster's place. Nightwing fell into one of the barns and immediately hid behind a wall, trying to come up with a strategy of some sort. There was silence for a moment, and then he heard two sets of footsteps coming in behind him. He leapt up and flung a punch forward. A hand grabbed his fist, and a kicked made contact with his jaw. Nightwing stumbled back and drew his remaining escrima stick, but then saw that the other two people in the barn were not his attackers. They were two women. Huntress and Black Canary!

"We found him." Black Canary stated.

"Yup. What now?" Huntress shrugged.

"Wait, what are you two doing in Bludhaven!" He asked, somewhat suspicious of their motives.

"Oracle sent us. Batman called her and said you might be in trouble." Black Canary explained.

"Figures… he'll never let me leave his shadow, will he?" Nightwing said resentfully.

Suddenly, there was a huge crash, and an entire side of the barn caved in! Superman and Supergirl floated in, staring their enemies down with superiority.

"Clark… what's going on?" Supergirl asked.

"I'll explain later. But for now we cannot allow these killers to leave." Superman said.

"This'll be fun." Huntress said, loading her crossbow.

"Looks like we're in for a brawl tonight. I hope your at the top of your game, leotard wonder." Black Canary said, looking to Nightwing.

But then they were interrupted when there was another blast, this one on the other side of the barn. The back of the barn collapsed now, and standing another barn behind it, silhouettes against the moon, were the figures of Green Arrow and the villain Sonar.

"Let me guess, P.O.V.?" Huntress called.

"You know it. Pretty sweet deal, really." Sonar called back.

"Oliver…? How did you get mixed up in all this?" Black Canary asked.

"Like I told Batman, I'm just ahead of the game. It's not too late for you to join, Canary." Green Arrow said, readying his bow.

"Not a chance Ollie." Black Canary said, pain and disbelief in her voice.

"Look at this party, here. Superman, Supergirl, Nightwing, Huntress, Black Canary, we hit the jackpot! Looks like we're in for war." Sonar cracked his knuckles, and amplified the sound to make it seem like a blast of thunder.

"We are so gonna die." Nightwing sighed. "But not without one hell of a fight."

**Note From the Author- ****Great battle coming in the next chapter, everyone. I was planning to put it in this chapter, but I decided it was getting pretty lengthy already, so I'll have Chapter Eleven up tomorrow. And to all of you who have been reviewing about the Wonder Woman, you won't be disappointed… that's all I'll tell you.**


	11. Waking Up

**Sorry the update took a bit longer than I said before, everyone. It took me a while to make this chapter come out right, but I'm pretty happy with it and I hope you enjoy.**

Chapter Eleven: Waking Up

Shayera stared into the infirmary, uncertain. She was running out of time. She had to save her boyfriend, but she couldn't kill J'onn… she had never been so conflicted. She thought about telling Flash, but decided against it. There was nothing he could do about it anyway, so there was no reason to bother him with it. So she sat in her room, listening to the clock tick, knowing she would have to decide soon. She took a deep breathe, grabbed her mace, and stood up. Tears were streaming down her face, but other than that she was completely composed. "I'm sorry J'onn." She said, and then she began heading toward the infirmary…

_Meanwhile, in the Bed Chamber at the Fortress of Solitude…_

Things were slowly swirling back into reality… and then fading out again. This seemed to go on forever, certain memories would float back, and for a moment things would feel real again, and then it was over and everything suddenly faded away. It continued on like this in a constant, seemingly never ending cycle. "Got to live… got to live…!" Diana said to herself, struggling to stay in this reality. She began winning the fight, staying alive longer and longer every time. Then finally, feeling began to come back. She existed again, she felt that. She tried to move, but found that she was completely bound to the cold steel beneath her. She tried to open her eyes, only to find that they weren't even closed… she was blind! "Damn it!" She screamed in anguish, beating her head against the metal behind her.

"I have to fight…" She began repeating to herself. Finally, after what seemed like days of struggling, she managed to break the holds binding her wrists. She immediately raised her hands up, but found that there was a sheet of glass above her. Then she began to feel the pain. Pain everywhere. Everywhere. Her entire body ached like never before, every ounce of her being felt like it had been put through a meat grinder! But she continued to fight. She was born to fight, raised to fight, bread to fight. And she would win! She kicked up as hard as she could, and finally blew the glass top off of the chamber. She heard it crash somewhere on the other side of the room. She was immediately cold, freezing cold. And the breeze made her realize that she was completely naked. "Damn you Clark…" She cried. Painfully, miserably, she pulled herself out of the chamber, only to fall hard onto the icy floor below. She screamed in pain, hearing her echo. Everything was still dark. A deep, endless darkness that she knew no light could ever break. Clark had blinded her. He had beaten her and most likely raped her. She had no idea how long she had been in the chamber, for all she knew it could have been years.

She pulled herself across the floor, unable to stand. The movement made her hurt even worse. She finally fell flat on the floor, giving up. She would have been crying, except that her tear ducts were nonexistent now. She continued to scream, feeling her throat bleed. Then a voice rang out, a cold, wickedly familiar voice.

"Well, well, well… what do we have here? Diana, beaten, bloodied, naked and blind, struggling to crawl like an infant. This is the sight I have dreamt of for ever so long." The voice said. The voice of Ares, God of War.

"Ares, what are you doing here… what the hell could you possibly want?" Diana asked, completely defeated.

Ares laughed. "I want to help Diana."

"I don't need your kind of help."

"I'll restore your sight, my dear. With just a wave of my hand, you'll see again."

"But there's a catch, right Ares? There's always a catch."

"Sort of, yes. But it's one that shouldn't be a problem for you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'll restore your sight, and all you have to do for me in return is go to Themyscira."

"What for?"

"Think, my dear. Hippolyta has been wondering about your location for quite some time now, and when she sees what this man has done to you, she will never tolerate it. She will declare war on man's world until she has the head of the one who did this on a spike! It will be an amazing war, one of epic proportion. A battle the likes of which the world has never seen!" Ares proclaimed.

"And you'll be feeding off of it the whole time." Diana said hatefully.

"Exactly." He moved closer to hear and kneeled down. "I don't normally reveal my plans like that, but this is an offer that you really can't refuse, can you? After all, it will turn out the same either way. If you die here, Hippolyta will find out eventually, and declare war anyway. It's a win-win situation for me!" Ares explained.

"Then why offer to help me at all?" Diana demanded.

"Because if you're alive for this, you will no doubt try to put a stop to it, and it will be ridiculously entertaining to watch you go against your own people. Plus… well let's face it I absolutely hate you. And for you to watch the entire world die by the hands of the Amazon's, all because you couldn't defend yourself… you will be so tortured by it and it will be so satisfying for me." Ares told her. 

Diana thought about it for a moment, but she already knew her answer. She knew Ares was right, ware was nearly inevitable now. Her only hope was to try and convince Hippolyta otherwise, and the only way to do that was to stay alive… so she had to accept Ares' offer. She knew it was going to come back to haunt her eventually, but right now she had no other choice.

"Ok. Do it." She said resentfully.

There was a swooshing sound, and then, instantly, she could see again. She now realized that she was inside the fortress of solitude. She turned around, and saw that Ares was already gone. She struggled to her feet, still in unbelievable pain. She quickly fell down again. It would be a while before she was able to walk. She took a moment to look herself over. It seemed as if there was no part of her body left unchanged. Deep bruises and scars covered nearly every inch of her skin. She knew she had several broken bones. She had grown very emaciated during her time in the chamber, nearly all of her muscle and body fat had withered away, and her broken ribs could be seen through her tight skin. Superman had destroyed her whole body, and she knew she would never completely heal. Not from this. Not physically or emotionally. She inched over to a door leading out of the bed chamber, and with great difficulty, managed to slide it open. She saw light now, she saw a window to the outside. She would be free soon. She looked upon her nude body again. She wanted to find clothing. She knew that nudity would be nothing new to the Amazon's, it wouldn't even phase them, but still she wanted something. Then a drone appeared behind her.

"Can I bring you some fresh clothing, Mrs. Lane?" It asked in a computerized voice.

"Mrs. Lane…? Huh! It thinks I'm Lois!" Diana gasped. Then she looked to the drone. "Yes, please. And some breakfast would be nice." She said, doing her best to sound like Lois Lane.

"As you wish, Mrs. Lane." The drone said, floating off and then coming back a few moments later with a fresh change of clothes and a plate with a bagel on it. The clothes were definitely Lois's, very formal and expensive. Not exactly Diana's choice of wardrobe, but at the moment she really didn't care. The bagel was extremely stale, but again, it didn't matter to her. She just desperately needed to eat. Once she was finished, she attempted to walk again, making it a few feet further this time. But she knew she would fall again soon. She decided she should stay there for a while before she attempted flying, especially over the ocean. But what if Clark came back? It was a risk she had to take. Then she heard a strange groaning from a door on the other side of the room. Cautiously, she moved over and opened the door. To her disbelief, inside was John Stewart, a.k.a. the Green Lantern!

He too had been severely beaten, and he was gagged and tied to a chair. She released him and removed the gag.

"Diana… we all thought you were dead." He said.

"I think I was." She said in equal disbelief.

"Clark… he's… he's…" John struggled to speak.

"I know, he's a monster." Diana nodded. "Do you have your ring on you by any chance?"

"Yeah but Clark kind of blew it up. It's useless right now."

"How did you even wind up here?"

"I was stupid… I tried to stop him on my own… he beat me… he's been torturing me for days, he- he's using me to manipulate Shayera… he's going to make her kill J'onn."

"Oh my God! We have to warn someone!"

"How? We're kind of stuck here until you've got enough strength to fly again, assuming he doesn't come back and kill us before then."

"I know." She said grimly.

The two of them stumbled out of the room, supporting themselves on each other. But then the drone saw them, the same drone who had mistaken Diana for Lois.

"Mr. Stewart, I have been instructed not to late you leave the fortress. I suggest you return to the room immediately." The drone said.

"Not a chance rust bucket." John threatened.

"You were warned, but did not heed. Now I am authorized to take lethal action against you." The drone said, the light on its faceplate suddenly turning red.

"Oh crap." John groaned. The drone charged toward them, and John and Diana stumbled into a hallway. The hallway was filled with large windows, revealing rooms filled with strange Kryptonian creatures. It was like a Kryptonian zoo! The drone grabbed John and began crushing him to death. In a bout of desperation, Diana swung with what little strength she had and shattered the glass to one of the rooms. A large, four legged beast with no eyes and razor sharp teeth leapt out! It tackled the drone, growling viciously. The drone and the alien began to fight, and soon the drone was ripped apart by the beast!

"Nice move Diana… now it's going to eat us!" John shouted. The strange creature turned to the two heroes, snarling.

"Maybe I can tame it, I have a natural resonance with animals." Diana said hopefully.

"It's not an animal it's a freaking monster!" John shouted, already coated in the snarling beast's saliva. It prepared to lunge, but Diana stood in front of it and held up her hands, speaking softly to the creature.

"It's ok, we mean no harm." Then she began making shushing sounds. To John's disbelief, the creature sat down! Diana began to scratch behind his strange, wolf like ears, and his back leg began to scratch like a dog. "See, he's friendly once you calm him down." She said.

"How do you think he'd do against Clark? Because with the shape we're in, this thing might be our only defense if he comes back!" John groaned, struggling to get up.

Then the creature stood prominently on it's back legs like a dog excited for a treat. It was easily as tall as three John's stacked on top of each other! Then folds on it's back began to quiver, and then two large bat-like wings expanded!

"No way." John said almost resentfully.

"You're gonna have to get used to him pretty quick John, because he's our wide out of here." Diana said cheerfully.

_Meanwhile…_

Batman, Question and Galatea arrived at Zatanna's live performance in Star City that night.

"We'll confront her after the shows over." Bruce said, out of the Batman costume. Question had also removed his face-remover, expressing his facial features, and they had gotten Galatea a new outfit to wear from a garage sale. She complained that the outfit was horribly ugly, but she did acknowledge that it was better than the jumpsuit. The three of them blended seamlessly into the crowd, waiting for Zatanna to appear on the stage.

Question horribly wanted to bring up either Nightwing or Diana, to get an idea of how Bruce felt about the current situation, but with all of Batman's vague answers he decided not to.

"Be on guard, everyone. We may have a fight on our hands later on. I checked some records… Anna White was taken to a morgue after she died. Problem is, she didn't really exist. So my guess is that Clayface disguised himself as one of the morgue employees and walked out. And not-so-coincidentally, the morgue bleeder has been missing ever since 'Anna White's' death. So Clayface probably killed the bleeder and hid the body somewhere, and escaped under his guise."

"If that's the case then why would we have a fight here?" Question asked.

"Because I checked the missing bleeder's credit card usage. Three days after he was reported missing, he used his card to buy a ticket to this very show. Again, not a coincidence. For whatever reason, Clayface bought a ticket to this show." Bruce explained.

There was suddenly a burst of smoke on the stage, and then Zatanna appeared. She leaned into the microphone and began giving an introduction, but Bruce did not pay attention. He was too distracted with thoughts of what might be happening to his old sidekick right now… and thoughts of what might have happened to Diana…

Zatanna started off the show with a few simple tricks, impressive of course, but not awe inspiring. She always started the shows that way, it made the bigger tricks seem even more spectacular. "Ok everyone, for this next trick, I'll need the help of my handsome assistant, Milo!" She announced. A large, burly man dressed in all black stepped out onto the stage. "Now, Milo will crawl into this coffin." Zatanna said mysteriously. Milo casually climbed into the stage coffin. Then there was a burst of smoke, and suddenly a series of flaming swords were levitation around Zatanna! The audience went crazy. But the trick had not yet reached it's climax. Zatanna raised her hand, and then made a down-swinging motion. All of the floating, flaming swords flew down and impaled into the coffin from all angles! The audience was mystified.

"Now, you may be asking yourself, how could any man survive this? Well-" Zatanna started, but then she was interrupted by a sick slurping sound. A thick brown ooze began leaking out from the holes made by the swords, pouring out of the coffin and pooling onto the floor. The audience was slightly disturbed now, but still thought it was just part of the trick. "What the hell…?" Zatanna muttered under her breath. Then a large arm molded out of the sludge and struck Zatanna, sending her flying offstage! The crowd gasped, as a huge, ghastly figure formed out of the sludge. Clayface!

"SHOWS OVER!" He called out, sending a series of tendrils into the audience, destroying several rows of seats in a crashing boom. The audience screamed and sprinted for the exits. Bruce ran into the bathroom and immediately suited up, heading into action. Question quickly erased his facial features again, and he and Galatea sprung into action as well.

Zatanna tried to get to her feet and fight, but Clayface shot a glob of sludge at her that slathered over her mouth and hardened. "You can't fight back if you can't say your little spells!" Clayface laughed, knocking the now defenseless Zatanna down again. He stepped in front of her and raised his hands above his head, molding them into a hammer of sorts, and prepared to swing down. But before the hammer made contact, Clayface was struck by a series of explosive baterangs that blasted him backstage. He reformed out of the smoldering puddle and saw Batman standing before him. "You! Will you ever just leave me alone?" Clayface shrieked, flailing a tendril toward the dark knight. Batman barely avoided the attack.

Galatea flew in behind and blasted Clayface with a wave of heat vision, severing his arm, though he quickly reformed it.

"Supergirl?" He asked, confused.

"Not even close!" Galatea shouted, flying in to attack. She quickly realized that punching him wasn't going to cut it, so she changed her method of attack to freeze breath, turning Clayface into an ice sculpture! But he managed to break out and struck Galatea, sending her spiraling into a steel support beam, putting quite a dent in it. Batman evaded several more attacks before throwing out a series of electric baterangs. The electricity surged through Clayface and caused him to involuntarily, and quite painfully, morph into hundreds of random forms, screaming the whole time. But he eventually pushed the baterangs out of his body and attacked again and striking Batman down. Galatea flew around at super speed, incinerating him with heat vision, but he quickly sank down to a puddle and slithered through a vent in the floor!

"He's in the air ducts!" Batman shouted.

"I'm on it." Galatea said, using her x-ray vision to scan the ventilation system. "Nothing. Looks he slithered out already, probably into the crowd of people outside the building."

"Then we've lost him. He could be anybody." Batman sighed.

"Not necessarily… his heart rate should still be up right?" She said, focusing in with her super hearing. "I've got him." She said, flying out through the window, attacking brashly. She flew down toward the person with the highest heart rate and pile drove him into the concrete! But a cascade of sludge quickly began rising around her, encasing her, crushing her. Her strength was superior, however, and she managed to smash her way out. Clayface reformed behind her, blast-tackling her and smashing through a wall! They rolled into the building, and when Clayface reformed, Galatea was trapped inside of him! He created a small window within his stomach, revealing her face!

"One move Batman, and I go down her throat! Trust me, that kills people really fast!" Clayface threatened.

"What made you work for Luthor anyway, Matt? Money, power, what?" Batman demanded.

"Try humanity. Lex Luthor can make me normal again! He promised me that! I just had to do him a few small favors… like dying in front of Superman. Apparently he was already screwed up, and that little move was all it took to set him off to kill Toyman! And then I was supposed to go after all the heroes who use magic, because Superman is so weak against magic… but then you interfered! You won't let me be normal!" He shrieked, suddenly slipping into a psychotic rant.

"Luthor's involved then… I figured…" Batman muttered to himself. "Matt, do you really think Luthor can cure you? Or even if he can, what makes you think he will? He's using you; he never follows through with this sort of thing!" Batman called, trying to coax the villain. But that only made him angrier. He began to close in, suffocating Galatea. "Shut up! Shut up! Just shut up, Batman! You don't know anything!" He shrieked.

"Um, bats, you aren't really helping!" Galatea said in a muffled cry, barely able to breath now. Just when things looked like they were at their worst, Clayface let out a pained cry, there was a surging electrical noise, and then he fell to the ground, a melted puddle. Galatea stumbled away, now free. And behind the puddle that had once been Clayface, stood the Question, holding a handful of electrical cords that he had yanked out of a stage light! He had used the wires to fry Clayface.

"I wondered where you were." Galatea said, smiling at Question.

"Well you didn't think I was just going to rush into the fight like an idiot, did you?" He said half-sarcastically, glancing up at Batman. The heroes moved over to Zatanna, and using the small electric prod, Batman removed the sludge from her mouth. She immediately began gasping for air.

"Nice timing… but what brings you to my show?" Zatanna asked. Police sirens wailed nearby, quickly approaching.

"I'll explain somewhere else. Come on." Batman said, and the four of them left out the back door.

_Meanwhile, back in Bludhaven…_

Nightwing, Huntress and Black Canary stood in a triangle. To their right were Green Arrow and Sonar, working for Luthor and ready for a fight. To their left were Superman and Supergirl, who had apparently lost their minds. Or at least, Superman had. His cousin was more of a clueless pawn in his game.

"You got a plan?" Black Canary asked.

"I was just about to ask you." Nightwing said.

"I've got one, get the hell out of here!" Huntress said.

"Huntress… running away from a fight! This is one for the history books!" Black Canary smiled.

"I like a good fight, but I'm smart enough to know when I can't win." Huntress replied.

"Thank you for all the encouragement." Nightwing groaned.

"Well what were you expecting, a cheery pep talk?" Black Canary asked.

"It would have been nice."

Superman made the first move, flying in toward the trio like a meteor! They all dodged, and he created a small crater in the ground. As he stood, he was struck by an arrow from Green Arrow, and their was a bright blue impact, and then Superman shouted in pain and stumbled back!

"These neutron arrows are designed to hurt even you, Sups." Green Arrow said, aiming for another shot. But Superman was faster, and fired a beam of heat vision up toward the archer. Black Canary, jumping in to defend her sort-of-boyfriend, released a sonic scream, but then Sonar absorbed the sound and used it to amp up own endurance! He stepped in front of the heat vision, powered up by the powerful sound waves, and took no damage from the hit. He then flew down at the speed of sound and hit Superman with an onslaught of thundering, deafening punches! Huntress prepared to take a shot at Green Arrow, but was then struck by a powerful kick from Supergirl that sent her tumbling! Black Canary hit Supergirl with a sonic scream that put the young hero on the ground, covering her ears, and Huntress shot her with an impact arrow that knocked her across the barn!

Nightwing moved in on Green Arrow with his escrima stick, and deflecting a few arrows. Green Arrow then fought back with his bow as his weapon, and they began striking at each other mercilessly. Superman managed to plow through Sonar's onslaught and kicked the villain through the roof. Before Sonar even began falling, Superman flew up and struck him hard, sending him sailing into an area of the hideout still in construction. Supergirl stood and blew Black Canary through a wall with a burst of super breath before striking Huntress down with a blow to the stomach, and throwing her outside the barn. Then she flew out and kicked Green Arrow into the air and grabbed Nightwing, slamming him against a wall.

"What happened Dick? It isn't like you to go out killing like that…" She asked, uncertainty in her voice.

"It was Clark! You have to believe me Kara, please! Clark killed him, and he framed me so that you would stick with him! Please, Kara, I need you to believe me!" Nightwing pleaded. She thought about it deeply for a few moments before shaking her head.

"Sorry Dick. I just don't." She said, punching him through the wall. He did a cartwheel and sprung onto his feet, throwing a birdirang into her face! I knocked her head back and he flipped up and kicked her down. Then she flashed into a burst of Super speed and raised Nightwing up into the air.

Green Arrow shot a grapple arrow and hooked onto her foot, but she grabbed the cable and threw both of the heroes toward her cousin! "Hey Clark, catch!" She called. Superman turned in the air and punched them both down as they flew, sending them head first into the construction zone! Sonar stood and absorbed the sound from the impact, firing it toward Superman as a destructive blast. But Superman only took minimal damage and charged toward his opponent again. Green Arrow set off a sonic arrow, and Sonar absorbed the sound, used it to augment his strength, and then matched the man of steel's might! The two titans fought on, clashing at equal strength and endurance. But the difference was, Sonar's strength was not permanent…

Huntress and Black Canary smacked Supergirl around a bit before she really got angry and started flashing around at super speed, pummeling them both to a pulp! Soon they were all in the construction zone.

Superman and Supergirl prepared to fire a wave of freeze breath at the same time, but at different targets, and Green Arrow shot a freeze arrow into the mix. The blasts all collided and created an icy explosion! The ice froze into triangles, diving the battlefield into three sections!

Now Huntress and Supergirl were locked in combat together. In the second triangle of ice were Black Canary and Green Arrow. And in the third arena were Nightwing, Superman and Sonar.

Supergirl charged toward Huntress, who dodged the attack. Supergirl quickly turned around and fired a beam of heat vision. Huntress ducked, and fired a crossbow bolt directly into the chain holding a wrecking ball that was handing right above Supergirl! Supergirl looked up, heat vision still blazing, and melted the falling wrecking ball! Hot, melted steel poured all over her left side. But she felt very little pain from it, due to her steel like skin.

"Ooh… I get a free wax too!" Supergirl laughed, shaking the attack off.

"I figured I'd help you out, I mean, you really need one." Huntress mocked. Supergirl growled and flew in with a punch, sending Huntress sailing into the front end of a crane!

"Give up already! I'm way stronger than you!" Supergirl shouted. Huntress started laughing.

"Strength isn't everything honey." She said sweetly, pulling a lever in the crane. Suddenly, a large magnet being held up by the crane activated, and began pulling in the hot steel all over Supergirl! She flew forcefully into the magnet, stuck in place. "I fight smarter." Huntress smiled, firing a crossbow bolt filled with knockout gas that struck the struggling Supergirl in the face, causing her to pass out immediately. "Brains over brawn, even I know that." Huntress said, falling to the ground with broken ribs from the punch.

Black Canary and Green Arrow were fighting hand-to-hand, beating each other senseless. "How could you do this Oliver? How could you just blindly follow Luthor!" Canary demanded.

"You choose to be hated and targeted by everyone in the world, and I'm the blind one? I think you're a bit misinformed, babe! I'm tired of being the bad guy just for being the hero!"

"So you sell yourself out to the government?"

"I did what I had to." The two fought. Canary tried a sonic scream, but Green Arrow had a specialized arrow two fight her, one that absorbed the frequency. He then took her down and slammed her on the ground.

"Let's see just how much that thing can absorb…" She groaned, releasing the strongest possible scream she could. And she continued on and on, for almost ten minutes! Finally, the arrow imploded, sending Green Arrow falling onto his back. Black Canary, completely exhausted, grabbed stray freeze arrow and jammed it into Green Arrow's leg, setting it off and freezing her boyfriend.

"Sorry Ollie… I did what I had to." She huffed, and then passed out.

Superman struck Nightwing with a surprise kick to the chest, that completely took the young heroes breath away. Sonar prepared an attack, but Superman had had enough.

"I – am sick – of you!" He shouted, blasting Sonar with a wave of heat vision. He then grabbed the disoriented villain and ripped his arms off! Blood and circuitry spewed, and Sonar screamed. Then Superman thrust the villain into the wall of ice hard enough to completely shatter it, and Sonar. Sonar flopped to the ground, killed by the impact. Superman then ripped the dead villain's spine out, it was wired with circuitry. Superman dropped it on the ground and broke it in half. "You're done." He said abruptly. Then he turned his sights on Nightwing.

But to his surprise, the hero had risen, and fired his grapple out toward Superman's face! The rocket propelled piece of steel struck Superman, and knocked him on the ground with a bloody nose. Nightwing quickly retracted the grapple. It came back and hooked Superman's shoulder, pulling him back! Nightwing pulled up and flung Superman into the ice wall, burying him deep within it. Superman fell to the ground, injured.

"Batman trained you pretty damned well…" Superman muttered, standing up. "Too bad all that training was wasted on such a loser."

"What happened Clark? What suddenly turned into this- this monster?"

"Reality." Then there was a blur, and then Nightwing was on the ground. "Something you soon won't be a part of." He laughed. He then flung the unconscious Nightwing over his shoulder. He looked to the struggling Huntress. "I'll take you too, after all, Question is involved." Then he struck Huntress down. He looked up to his cousin, still sleeping and attached to the magnet. "I'll be back for you shortly. Sweet dreams…" He said, hoping his cousin would dream something useful to him. Then he flew off into the night, ready to take on Batman.


	12. Confrontations

Chapter Twelve: Confrontations 

The beast flew over Themyscira, the Paradise Island. On Diana's command, it flew downward and touched down on the island, directly in front of the palace. A group of twelve Amazon's had already gathered, with their bows ready, in case the creature was hostile. Diana down from the beast, and the Amazon's immediately lowered their weapons and bowed. John slid down and stood next to her. "Am I going to be welcomed here?" He asked doubtfully.

"No." Diana said. She was soon greeted by Phillipus and Artemis. Phillipus was much like an aunt to Diana, and Artemis, well… she was hot and cold. Sometimes her and Diana got along, sometimes they didn't.

"Princess Diana." Phillipus said, bowing. She looked upon the princess's bruised, scarred body. "What has happened to you, my dear?"

"And what is this creature you have ridden?" Artemis asked, looking at the Kryptonian beast.

"I'll explain later Phillipus. And Artemis… this is Atlas." Diana said, patting the beast on the side.

"Atlas?" John asked cynically.

"Yes, I thought I'd call him Atlas because he's so big and strong."

"Diana… we are not keeping this thing, you know that right?"

"Who is this man you have brought here?" Phillipus asked.

"This is a friend of mine, he is not a wicked man. He was attacked by the same person as I, and he requires medical attention. Please treat him as if he were one of our own." Diana said.

"Very well, come with us, man. You will be fed and your wounds will be treated." Artemis said, turning and walking off. John followed her.

"Phillipus, where is my mother?" Diana asked.

"She is inside the palace. She has been horribly worried about you."

Diana nodded and headed into the palace. Soon she was in Hippolyta's chamber. Hippolyta smiled as she saw her sun and stars, but the smile quickly faded when she saw that her daughter had been beaten and broken. Thoughts of Heracles traced back into Hippolyta's mind… this was the same, she knew.

"Diana, who has done this to you, my child?" Hippolyta demanded.

"Mother, promise me you will not do anything brash, but-"

"Who?"

Diana looked her mother in the eyes and realized she already knew the answer. Hippolyta knew.

"Mother, before we get into all of that business… do you still have the communicator I gave you? So that you could contact me?"

"Diana, I demand the name of the man who has done this!"

"And I will tell you, but first, there are more pressing matters at hand. The communicator, please tell me you still have it?"

Hippolyta was silent for a long moment, rage billowing up inside of her. Not rage toward her daughter, but toward man itself.

"Yes, I do." Hippolyta sighed impatiently, taking a JLA communicator from a table and handing it to her daughter.

"Thank you." Diana bowed, trying to contact Shayera. But there was no answer. After several attempts, she sighed in disbelief and sat down. "Why won't you answer…?" Diana pleaded, knowing Shayera did not hear her. She thought about trying to contact Bruce, to let him know that she was ok, but according to John, Bruce had dropped off the map after her disappearance. If he was in some sort of danger, she didn't want to make it any worse. There was only one person left to contact. She set the communicator to contact the last person left who she could trust…

_Meanwhile, back at JLA Headquarters…_

Wally West was awakened by the beep of his communicator. He shot up on the couch and fumbled for the device. "Uh… hello?" He responded, still half asleep.

"Wally? This is Diana, I need-"

"Diana? You sure?"

"Yes Wally, I'm sure it's me! Now pay attention!"

"Uh… sure, but, where have you been?"

"Wally we can talk about it later, but right now please listen to me! John is with me right now but… Shayera thinks Clark still has him! She's going to kill J'onn!"

"Slow down a minute, Shayera hasn't been out of her room all night… um, that I know of anyway."

"Go talk to her Wally, tell her John's ok! Please!"

"Alright, I'll go tell her, and-" Before Wally could finish his sentence, his communicator died. He realized that he had not charged the device in over a year. "Oh yeah… batteries." He sighed.

He stood and zipped over to Shayera's room. He knocked on the door, but there was no answer. He quickly glanced into the infirmary to make sure she wasn't in there, but only J'onn was present. "Hey, Shayera, you in here?" Wally called. He began vibrating his finger and used it to burn through the lock on the door. He then cautiously pushed the door open. Shayera was standing there, holding her mace at her side, her head down. She was frighteningly still. She didn't even breath. She reminded Wally of every zombie movie he had ever watched. Except for the wings, zombies usually didn't have wings… though it would make for a great twist in a movie. Wally shook his head and reminded himself to focus.

He walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Shayera, you ok?" He asked. She did not respond. She didn't even look up. He noticed the heavy tears dripping down onto the floor in front of her. "Shayera? It's me, Wally, come on, snap of it!" He pleaded, both hands on her shoulders now, lightly shaking her. She looked up; there was a blank, lifeless stare in her eyes. "Shayera, have you been here all night?"

"Trying to make myself move." She said in what was nearly a whisper.

"Shayera, I just talked to Diana. She said John's ok."

"Clark took him. He's going to kill him." She was eerily calm.

"No, him and Diana escaped or something! I don't know the details, my communicator died, but-"

"Shut up."

"What? Shayera I'm serious, I was just-"

"Shut up Wally. Just shut up! You don't get it!"

"Get what?" But without answering, Shayera punched him in the stomach and threw him across the room. She then began walking toward the infirmary. She made it across the hall and opened up the glass door, heading over to J'onn's bed.

Wally struggled to get to his feet. He saw Shayera raise her mace, and he flashed over.

"I'm sorry J'onn." She said again, swinging down at him with the mace. Wally blurred into focus behind her and pulled her back, causing her swing to miss. She began struggling, so he vibrated his body fast enough to make her pass out. But she didn't pass out. She stopped struggling, dropped her mace, and fell on the floor, sobbing. Wally calmed down and helped her up. They sat down in the corner, both of them shaken up. Shayera rested her head on Wally's chest, still sobbing.

"John's ok, I promise." Wally told her.

"No he's not." She sobbed. "The way Clark is… he's not ok. None of us are."

_Meanwhile, back at Blockbuster's old hideout…_

Green Arrow had been struggling for hours, but he finally managed to work a vibration arrowhead out from under his glove. He then jammed into the ice that he was encased in, and allowed it to go off. It completely destroyed the prison of ice that held him, shaking it into shambles. Green Arrow fell to his hands and knees, shivering, but free. He looked around the battlefield, still unable to believe what he had witnessed. From inside the ice, he had seen Superman murder Sonar, and kidnap Nightwing and Huntress.

Green Arrow stumbled over to Black Canary, who was just now beginning to wake up. She was moaning softly, trying to come awake. Green Arrow helped her up, and then supported himself against the wall of a barn. Black Canary opened her eyes, and began to make sense of what was going on around her. Then her eyes got wide, and she swung a punch at Green Arrow. Arrow dodged and tried to calm her down.

"Chill out! I'm not looking for a fight, I swear." He told her.

She began to speak, but then groaned and placed her hand on her forehead. "I've never put that much power into a sonic scream before… I feel horrible." She said.

Green Arrow looked up to the large magnet were Supergirl was stuck, still unconscious. "We'd better go before Superman comes back for her." He said, helping Black Canary move along.

He had regained his composure now, and no longer needed the support of the barn, so he was able to move much faster. He literally began to piggyback Black Canary, her arms around his neck and her legs propped on his hips. She was barely awake, and her head throbbed like never before. Then he stopped in his tracks.

"Oh!" He cried out suddenly.

"Ouch! Super-scream hangover here!" She said, clutching her forehead.

"Sorry. I just remembered something." He said, picking up his pace and heading into the building that had previously been Blockbuster's hideout. He moved up into the hallway and found the piece of kryptonite that Supergirl had blown down the hall earlier that night. He reached down and lifted the glowing green rock, sliding it into his pocket. "This could come in handy." He said to himself.

"So why'd you do it Ollie? Side with Luthor, I mean…"

"You wouldn't understand it." He said, almost sadly.

"Try me." She said, beginning to feel better.

"Huh… well, a few months back, there this apartment fire in Star City. It was really bad, there were still some people on the top floor, but the fire fighters couldn't get to them. So I jumped in, I went in looking for anyone still up there. I got a couple people out, dropped them out the window and onto the fire department trampoline. Then there was this little girl who I found, probably about nine or ten. She was trapped under her burning bed. I pulled her out of the fire and started heading out of there, but then the entire floor started to collapse. Everything was coming down. I panicked, I knew I had to get her out of there, you know? So I made a break for it, and I threw her out the window like everybody else, but that was the dumbest mistake of my entire life…"

"What happened Ollie?" Black Canary asked when he stopped.

"Well I was in a rush, you know, I was panicking, and…"

"And what?"

"It was the wrong window."

"Oh my God!"

"Yeah… it was in the right hallway, just a bit too far to the right, and… and she hit concrete. She died instantly."

"Ollie, it wasn't your fault, everyone makes mistakes."

"Yeah. But then some news station got footage of me throwing her, and of course people got the wrong idea. They didn't even consider the fact that maybe I'm human… that maybe I make mistakes too… they just immediately assumed that I did it on purpose. Suddenly it was on every news station everywhere, Green Arrow, a kid killer. Soon everybody in America wanted my blood. I was more hated than ever… and that was when I decided enough was enough. Lex Luthor was organizing this Super Human Police Force, he still is, actually. I applied, and I fit the bill. I guess I was just tired of being hated, sick of being the vigilante, the monster. With this, we would nothing but positive publicity, and, and maybe I'm just selfish, but I think I did the right thing."

"Ollie. I'm so sorry for what happened, and they had no right to do that to you. But do you really think selling yourself out to Luthor was the right thing to do?" Black Canary asked sympathetically.

"I don't know. I thought I did, but… now I'm not so sure."

Suddenly, Green Arrow ducked to the floor and both heroes took cover. Superman flew by, holding his unconscious cousin in his arms. Green Arrow quickly shot a small tracer arrowhead onto Superman, allowing him to track the man of steel.

"Oliver, what exactly do you think you're going to do?" Black Canary asked once Superman was out of earshot.

"I think I'm going to redeem myself. I'm putting a stop to this."

_Meanwhile, at the headquarters of The Oracle…_

Hawk stood above The Oracle with absolute superiority. "Why… why are you doing this?" The Oracle questioned.

"Because I'm sick and tired of all your pacifistic peace making crap! Whether I'm with the League, or the Birds of Prey, or the Titans, it's always the same! None of you have the guts to stand up and take action, and that's why the world is so screwed up!" Hawk shouted, punching The Oracle again.

"And you really think Lex Luthor will make the world any better?" She huffed out through the pain.

"He'll do what needs doing. If there's a threat, he'll have us crush it. No mercy, no waiting around, no trying to make friends with it, we just take action and take it out! That's the way heroes need to be if we really want to make any sort of difference in the world! Luthor's Superhuman Police Force will get the job done right!" Hawk explained.

Hawk had been Luthor's spy in the Bird's of Prey for several months now. And he had finally been ordered to kill The Oracle. It was about time, as far as he was concerned. After a brief battle, he had beaten the woman down and pummeled her into the floor. Now he was going to draw out her agonizing death as long as possible. He had broken into her computer ahead of time, and sent Dove and Lady Blackhawk on an emergency mission down in southern California, to make sure neither of them would interfere with the assassination. But then Hawk's LexCorp communicator began to beep.

"Aw hell, looks like I'll have to finish this now!" He shouted, striking The Oracle as hard as he could. Blood pooled around her body. "That should do it." He smiled, turning to answer the communicator. The Oracle inched over to her keyboard, and put in a last resort code. A large red light began to blare. "What the?" Hawk shouted.

"You aren't getting out of here alive, Hall!" Oracle shouted, knowing she had to stop him before he carried out his next mission. "You're in charge now… Canary." She sighed, closing her eyes. And the entire place exploded, killing them both.

_Meanwhile, at the old Cadmus Base…_

All of the affairs were now in order. Batman, Question and Galatea had explained the situation to Zatanna, who was now ready to locate the body. After reciting a few incantations, Zatanna asked who they wanted her to contact.

"Diana." Batman immediately piped in. Zatanna nodded and closed her eyes.

_ "Anaid!" _Zatanna proclaimed, saying Diana's name backwards to complete the spell.

They waited several moments, but nothing happened. Zatanna attempted the spell again, but again there was no result.

"I can't seem to contact her spirit." Zatanna said sadly.

"Does that mean she's alive?" Batman asked, a glint of hopefulness lining his voice.

"Well… no. The spell I used was an extremely high level one, it reveals around spiritual detection. If she were alive, I'd be able to at least detect her spirit…"

"So what are you saying?" Batman demanded.

"I'm saying it's as if Diana doesn't exist. Wherever she is, she is not in this world." Zatanna said in a confused tone.

"Not in this world? What the hell?"

"Maybe she already crossed over?" Question asked, but Zatanna shook her head.

"No, it wouldn't matter. Like I said, that was an extremely high level spell. We still would have been able to contact her. I could try an outer-dimensional spell to see if I could find her, but it could take days, if it works at all." Zatanna grimaced.

"No. It'd be a waste of time. Try contacting someone else." Batman said.

"Are you sure bats?"

"There are things more important right now. We don't have the time to waste. Contact Toyman, he's been dead the longest. He's probably pretty eager to speak."

"Ok, I'll work on it. What's Toyman's real name?"

Batman told her, and she went to work. But before the spell was finished, there was a blast, and the door to the hidden base flew across the room. Standing on the other side was Superman, with Supergirl next to him.

"Yup. This is definitely the place in my dream." Supergirl said.

"Good job Kara. You've been a lot of help to me." Superman said with a wicked grin.

"It's about time." Galatea grinned, standing and ready to fight.

"Hello, Bruce." Superman said.

"Question, get Zatanna out of here! Galatea and I will keep them busy, but it's important that Zatanna finishes that spell!" Batman shouted.

"Got it." Question said, grabbing Zatanna to pull her out of the room.

"Wait a minute, I want to-" Zatanna began to protest, but Question grabbed her and pulled her through the backdoor of the base.

Superman nodded to Supergirl, and the two prepared to go on the offensive. Batman immediately began to pull his Kryptonite out of his utility belt. But Superman did not seem scared. Galatea immediately moved over to the other side of the room. Why was Superman so unbothered by the presence of his weakness?

"Stand down Clark, or I'll jam this down your damn throat!" Batman barked, but Superman laughed.

"I knew you carried that, which is why I brought some of your Kryptonite." Superman smiled, reaching over. He then pulled up an unconscious Nightwing! Batman gasped and backed up a little.

Supergirl grimaced some, clearly bothered by her cousin's manipulative methods, but she said nothing. Superman held Nightwing by the arm, the young hero dangling like a rag doll.

"Drop the Kryptonite, or he dies." Superman announced.

"What?" Supergirl gasped, looking at Superman is disbelief. He gave her a look that said he wasn't really going to kill his hostage, but something inside of her told her to believe otherwise. She did not protest, however. Something about Clark had been scaring her lately anyway.

Batman reluctantly threw the Kryptonite onto the other side of the room, underneath a lead bomb shelter area. "Ok, now let Dick go!" Batman yelled.

"Sure thing." Superman threw the hostage with all his might, and struck Batman. He and his ex-sidekick tumbled across the room and crashed into a wall. In an instant, Superman was right in front of the dark knight and kicked him straight through the wall! Batman was suddenly falling in a part of the base that he had not known existed. This was a huge, dark, steel room that went thousands of feet into the ground! And Batman was falling. Superman flew down after him, murder in his eyes.

Galatea flew at Supergirl, flinging a mighty punch. Supergirl blocked the punch, and the impact was a thunderous crash that made the room begin to collapse.

"I've been waiting a long time to take you out!" Galatea screamed.

"How'd you get Batman involved in this anyway?" Supergirl questioned, punching Galatea away.

"Me? Batman's the one who get me involved!" Galatea responded, kicking Supergirl in the throat and then spin-kicking her across the room.

"But why? I mean, what made him go bad?"

"You really are clueless, aren't you?" Galatea laughed. "Batman's the good guy!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Do I have to spell it out for you? Your cousin's a murderer! He's on a killing spree and we're stopping him!"

"If you're gonna lie to me Galatea, at least think of something that makes sense!"

"Believe what you want, I don't really care. I'm just going to hit you some more."

Batman shot a grapple and landed on a steel walkway. Superman came thundering down in front of him. "You can't run forever Bruce!" He shouted, firing a bema of heat vision that Batman barely evaded.

"Clark, slow down and listen to me! Lex Luthor is using you! He's turned you into a weapon!"

"Luthor, huh?" Superman began laughing hysterically. "Luthor! Of course!" More insane laugher. "Luthor finally did something good for me, he opened my eyes! I get it now, I get what I'm supposed to do, I'm supposed to fix Earth! Fix it by killing every single one of you stupid, filthy monkeys!" He continued laughing.

Batman narrowed his eyes. "You've lost your mind." He drew a series of baterangs, and concealed them behind his back. "I don't know what Luthor did to you, but it doesn't matter now. This has to end!" Batman released the handful of baterangs, they flew out and landed in different locations around Superman. Batman then pushed a trigger. A strange blue light shone from one of the baterangs, and then connected to another, and this process continued until they had formed an octagonal beam around the man of steel.

"What is this?" Superman demanded.

"I designed those as a last resort… just before I went to recruit Question. They'll explode with the force of twelve atomic bombs!" Batman announced. Superman tried to move, but found that the blue light was projecting some sort of stasis field, holding him in place.

Nightwing slowly came awake, and sat up to see two beautiful blondes beating the crap out of each other. Supergirl and Galatea were still going at it, both bleeding now. Nightwing saw the faint glow of Kryptonite underneath some sort of bomb shelter area. He slowly crawled over to the glow, and pulled out the Kryptonite. But he couldn't tell which of the women he should fight… Galatea was a villain, but Supergirl was being manipulated like Superman's puppet… he watched them fight for a bit longer before making his decision.

Galatea was getting the upper hand against her opponent when she was suddenly struck with a grapple! The grapple hooked her shoulder, retracted and pulled her backwards out of the fight. "What the hell?" She looked to see Nightwing had pulled her out of the fray. The young hero then hurled the Kryptonite, striking Supergirl in the face! She fell to the ground, and the rock dropped next to her, beginning to kill her.

"Sorry Kara." Nightwing sighed, looking to Galatea and preparing to take a beating. But instead, she thanked him. That surprised him a bit.

"Dick Grayson." He said awkwardly, extending his hand. Galatea shook it.

"Galatea… well, Galatea. That's all there is." She said, equally awkward.

"I know who you are." He said.

"If that's true, then why'd you pull me away from the Kryptonite?"

"I don't know… you just kind of looked trustworthy." He said, staring into her eyes. "You don't look like anyone who could possibly be all that bad." He said, cracking a smile. She smiled too.

"Well, thanks." She shrugged. They looked over to the screaming Supergirl. "You're not going to let her die." Galatea said.

"What makes you so sure?" Nightwing asked, curious.

"I can already tell you're not a killer." Galatea said with nothing but honesty in her voice. Nightwing sighed.

"Yeah, you're right." He said. He got up, walked over, knocked Supergirl out for the second time that day, and took the Kryptonite. He saw a faint blue light coming from the hole Batman and Superman had made in the wall. He looked down and saw the octagonal light. "Oh God…" He sighed, leaping down to the area. Galatea followed.

"Those will explode like twelve atomic bombs! That should be enough to kill anyone… even you." Batman said, holding up the trigger. "All I have to do is push this button again, and we're gone. Neither of us walk out alive. I could end it all right here, Clark."

"You don't have it in you." Superman said calmly, standing his ground.

"Try me." Batman prepared to push the button, but suddenly a hand grabbed his wrist. He looked back to see Nightwing standing behind him.

"Bruce, don't." He pleaded.

"Get out of here Dick. Find Question and Zatanna, help them find evidence. I'll finish things here." Batman said firmly.

"No! Don't do it Bruce, please."

Galatea landed behind Superman, ready to fire heat vision. "There are other ways to do this." She said.

"Come on Bruce, think about it. What if he survives? You've had wasted all our lives for nothing! And even if it does kill him, what difference will it make? Luthor's still out there, and who knows what he'll do with you and Clark out of the picture!"

"Dick, please… leave."

"No Bruce, I won't. Because I know you won't kill me, so as long as I stay…" Dick didn't finish his sentence; they all knew what he would have said next anyway.

Batman sighed and lowered the trigger, throwing it off the walkway.

"You're funeral." Superman smiled. The stasis field ran out of power, and in a blur Superman was on the attack, but was caught by Galatea, who held him back.

"Dick! Now!" She called. Nightwing took the Kryptonite he had just used on Supergirl and charged Superman. Superman saw it coming and fired a wave of heat vision that struck Dick in the leg! The young hero fell and accidentally tossed the kryptonite off the walkway. It fell down thousands of feet into the darkness. Superman and Galatea continued to struggle, but eventually Superman won out punched her down. But as he prepared to kill her, a sonic scream rang out that completely disoriented the man of steel. He looked up to see where the painful scream was coming from, and was then greeted by an incoming kryptonite arrow!

Superman reacted just in time and swerved to the side. The arrow pierced Galatea!

"No!" Dick screamed, rushing over to her. Black Canary and Green Arrow stood above, looking down through the hole in the wall. Approaching behind them was Huntress, who Superman had originally planned to bribe Question with, but that plan was scrapped and he left her near the base. Superman looked around. He was surrounded by Nightwing, Batman, Galatea (injured as she may be), Huntress, Green Arrow, and Black Canary. He grimaced, realizing that he may not be able to win this battle.

"Another day, Bruce." He growled, bursting through the ceiling. Supergirl, who was just waking up, saw him flying away and followed him. Soon they were out of sight.

"She's hurt! Bad!" Nightwing shouted, holding Galatea in his arms. The arrow was embedded deep in her lower shoulder, just above her chest. She was drenched in sweet, bleeding heavily, and the color was draining from her quickly.

"We'll tend to her as soon as we can. But we can't afford to stay here right now. Everyone move! They began to leave, and then Batman turned and faced down Green Arrow. "Everyone except you." He snapped.

"Bats… what I did was stupid, I know. But I'm ready to make up for it. I'll help take Superman and Luthor down, no matter what it takes." Green Arrow said honestly.

"You can trust him, please. He's been through a lot." Black Canary said.

"Fine. But one false move, and you're out." Batman said, staring the archer in the eyes. There was a moment of silence, but it was then broken by Galatea's painful moans.

"She needs help right away, guys." Nightwing insisted.

"If we try to remove the arrow right now we might end up breaking the kryptonite off, and then there would no chance of helping her. Once we get somewhere we can rest, we can help her, but you have to calm down Dick." Batman said, and Dick nodded. "Come on. We need to regroup with Question and Zatanna, to see what she found."

_Meanwhile…_

Superman sat on top of the Daily Planet, looking at Supergirl, who was resting down on a lower part of the building. "She's beginning to doubt me…" He said to himself. "But right now, I need her dreams, so I need to keep her trust… I should be more careful from now on." Then he looked off into the distance. "But… I think it's about time I paid Lex Luthor a visit."


	13. Emotions

Chapter Thirteen: Emotions 

Things began coming into focus slowly. There was faint light, eyes struggling to come open. Soon Dick was awake, and immediately jumped at the pain of the needle in his arm. Batman pulled the needle out, replaced the tip, and moved over to a sleeping Huntress. Dick looked around and saw that everyone was asleep. Then he realized that they were in the batcave! "What the hell happened?" Dick shouted.

"I drugged you all before we came here, to make sure no one would see where the batcave was located." Batman said.

"Seriously? I mean, was it really necessary to drug me? I already know where it is, I used to frickin' live here!"

"The sleeping gas affected everyone in the area. You were in the area."

"You never trusted me Bruce. Never once."

"It has nothing to do with trust Dick, you-"

"Shut up. I grew up with your lectures, I don't need to hear anymore of them." Then there was silence. It was rare that Dick ever opened up to his foster father, and now seemed like a horrible time for it, but Dick just couldn't contain himself. The situation was too stressful, the stakes were too high, and he just couldn't hold it in.

Batman injected the needle into Huntress's vein, and she immediately woke up when the fluid entered her bloodstream. She uttered the same phrase Dick had when he woke up, and he gave her a brief explanation. Soon everyone was awake, except for the dying Galatea.

"Good move, you might not want to wake her up until the arrow is removed." Black Canary said.

"Actually, I didn't drug her. She was passed out already." Batman said. She was hardly breathing now, her pulse almost nonexistent.

"Help her! Now!" Dick demanded.

"Calm down. Get her into the medical area." He instructed. Dick lifted her up in his arms and carried her over to the sterilized infirmary, laying her down on the operating table.

Dick watched as Bruce removed the kryptonite arrow from Galatea and then worked to stop the bleeding. She groaned in pain and her hand searched for something or someone. Without hesitation Dick moved his hand to hers and felt her squeeze. She needed a focus point.

"I brought a sunlamp by the chemistry lab." Huntress said, entering into the infirmary area. Question helped her set it up and shine the light down upon her. She groaned a little, but it appeared as if her body was absorbing the light from the lamp.

"I've removed all the kryptonite, but there's no telling if any particulates got into her bloodstream. Wait a few minutes, and if she's still showing signs of being exposed to the radiation, let me know immediately. We may have to clean her blood." Batman said, looking down at the young woman under him.

Galatea opened her eyes slowly. Her beautiful baby blue were so unfocused, shimmering in the light of the sunlamp. Batman stepped back, and expected Dick to the same, but instead the young hero stood there looking down at her. Dick turned slightly when he heard a chair slide up behind him, and Huntress stepped back with a smile on her face. Dick sat down and waited for her to recover. For her mind to come back into focus. After a few moments she looked over at Dick, looking into his eyes.

"Hey." She said weakly, managing a small smile.

"Hi." Dick said happily, smiling back.

"How long have you been waiting here?"

"Not too long, a couple minutes maybe."

"Why?"

"I don't know… I just wanted to."

"I'm glad you did." The two talked for a while longer.

Batman headed over to Question and Zatanna. "So you still haven't told me what you found. Did you contact Toyman?" Batman questioned.

"Yes." Question said, somewhat uncomfortably. "So what about Superman? I mean, are we really safe from him here?"

"The entire cave is reinforced with layers of steel left over from the Imperiex war, steel even Superman can't break, and between those layers of steel are layers of lead. We should be safe here for quite a while. Now quite changing the subject and tell me what you found!" Batman demanded.

"Well… we got answers from Toyman, but you might not like it…" Zatanna said.

"What?"

"Superman has been dumping the bodies into the ocean around the fortress of solitude, weighing them down too. The pressure at the bottom the ocean would have destroyed any traceable remains by now." Question explained.

Batman growled and punched a wall. "Why the hell not?" He turned and began to walk away. "He's ruined everything else we've done, why wouldn't he have destroyed the damned bodies!"

"Told you he wouldn't like it." Zatanna said.

"I don't like it either. Now we have virtually no case. We have plenty of theories, but no evidence to base it on." Question sighed.

"Lex Luthor is behind this, right?" Black Canary called from the corner, where she had Green Arrow had been sitting. "If any information about this exists, then I'm sure Oracle could find it. She's got the largest, most complex database in the world, she should be able to dig up some sort of evidence." Canary suggested.

"It's worth a shot." Huntress agreed.

Black Canary pulled out her communicator to call The Oracle, but when she looked it at there was a flashing red light. "What the hell?" She questioned. Huntress checked her communicator, and the same red light flashed.

"Weird." She said. "They won't work either."

Then Black Canary's communicator suddenly turned to a blue light, though Huntress's remained the same. Canary's communicator released a hologram all of the sudden, a hologram of The Oracle. "Dinah, if you're seeing this right now, it means I was forced to use my self destruct protocol. That means I'm dead." Huntress and Black Canary gasped. The hologram continued speaking. "I programmed this message into your communicator for a very specific purpose. I want you to take my place, Dinah. I want you to succeed me as leader of the Birds of Prey. If you head to our secondary hideout, your communicator alone will act as a key to my informational database. You will have full access to it. I understand this is a lot to handle, but you have to understand, you're in charge now, Dinah. There's no room for weakness. You're my closest friend, and I know you'll have the strength to hold things together. Good luck, Dinah." And then the hologram faded.

"What? How… how did this happen?" Canary cried.

"Oh God…" Green Arrow muttered. "No… I didn't think…"

"What?" Huntress demanded.

"What is it Ollie?" Canary asked.

"Hawk. He was in the Superhuman Police Force with me, he was Luthor's spy in the Birds of Prey. I heard rumors that he was ordered to assassinate her, but I didn't think it was true!"

"Hawk… I should've guessed." Black Canary said, sadness weighing down her voice.

"You knew?" Huntress shouted, infuriated. She kicked Green Arrow in the throat, causing him to double over and fall to the floor, clutching his throat.

"I- I didn't think it was true, I swear!" He insisted.

"Why? Why did this happen?" Huntress demanded.

"I don't know details, but I think it had something to do with The Oracle knowing about one of Luthor's projects or something." Arrow gasped.

"Probably whatever he did to Clark." Question nodded, as if he had expected this. Suddenly everyone in the rooms attention shifted to Batman, who was standing still as a statue, a feeling of anger emanating from his body.

"He attacked Dick, practically my son… who knows what he did to Diana… and now…" He looked up toward the ceiling. "Now Barbara has died for this too!" He cried, clenching his fists so hard that blood seeped through his gauntlets.

Everyone felt for Bruce, Barbara, a.k.a. The Oracle, had been sort of like a daughter to him. And then there had been the danger of losing Dick, and everyone knew how he must have felt about Diana. He had suffered more than anyone for this, and now some emotion was finally beginning to break through his solid exterior. He turned and walked off deeper into the cave. "Once I'm done burying Clark, there won't be a hole deep enough for you to hide in, Luthor." He said to himself, hate filling his voice more than ever.

"Hey, um… what happened to Dick and Galatea?" Zatanna piped in, realizing the two of them had disappeared.

Outside, Dick and Galatea had left the cave through one of the many hidden exits that only Dick and his mentor knew about. The two of them walked through the vast topiary garden about a hundred acres behind Wayne Manor. "It's so beautiful here." Galatea said, listening to a nearby stream flow into a pond, observing the fantastic topiary figures. "You're so lucky to have lived here."

"Not really." Dick muttered. "You know I lived her for years, and I never even knew this area existed before tonight? The old man always kept me constantly busy, with just about everything. It was kind of like slave labor, except that slaves don't have to wear tights and fight psychotic clowns!"

"So you didn't even like being Robin?" Galatea asked.

"Well, it did definitely have its perks, and I really enjoyed it at the time… but looking back on it, every moment of it really sucked. No matter what I did, it was never good enough. I never measured up to Bruce's expectations, no matter how hard I tried to make him happy. That man made my childhood a living hell! And now I'm just trying to get out, but he won't seem to let me out of his shadow."

"Believe it or not, I kind of know the feeling. I never even had a childhood, I was immediately aged to a point where my powers would be at their peak… and then after that I spent the first years of my life becoming a brainwashed puppet for Cadmus. They taught me emotion was a weakness, and I was punished severely whenever I showed any sign of feeling. They constantly pushed me to my limit with endless testing, and they were never happy with the results, they always wanted more power."

They were both on the verge of tears now, but strangely, they felt extremely happy. It was the first time either of them had ever been comfortable sharing these feelings with anyone.

"You're feeling ok, right?" Dick asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"Well bats said something earlier about kryptonite particulates getting into your bloodstream or whatever, so I was just making sure."

"No, I feel fine. I appreciate the concern though." There was another pause, and then she stopped walking and looked Dick in the eyes. "Why are you concerned?" She asked.

"You aren't used to compassion, are you?" Dick smiled.

"No, I guess I'm not. You don't see a whole lot of that at Cadmus."

"I can imagine. That Amanda Waller chick is mean, tough and built like a brick shithouse, I doubt she's very compassionate." Dick laughed. Galatea laughed too, and then nearly fell over. Dick caught her.

"Whoa, you ok?" He asked.

"Yeah, I guess I'm still just a little tired from that arrow. It'll be a while before I'm a hundred percent again." She said, regaining her balance. But after she was back on her feet, she remained in Dick's embrace, and then the two froze. Then, almost mechanically, they both moved in for a kiss. But before their lips could make contact, a spotlight shone heavily upon them.

"What the…" Dick groaned, looking up to see some sort of hovercraft fleet above them. An army of Cadmus soldiers began dropping out of the hovercrafts, all heavily armed. A series of jeeps pulled up further back, and more soldiers exited from those. But among this group was Amanda Waller herself. The sight of Amanda brought Dick's description of her back to Galatea's mind, and despite the situation, she couldn't help but giggle under her breath.

"What do you want?" Dick demanded, staring Amanda down. All guns were immediately aimed toward him.

"Stand down kid. We just want Galatea back, and then we'll be on our way." Amanda Waller said. A tall blonde man wearing sunglasses stepped up next to Waller. He was unarmed, but something about him seemed more dangerous than any of the other soldiers.

Dick stood firmly in front of Galatea, drawing his escrima sticks and holding them at the ready. He stared at Amanda's blonde bodyguard. Why did this particular man seem so intimidating? Dick shook his head and focused. "Not a chance." He said defiantly.

"Galatea is Cadmus property, and we are taking at back." Amanda said, her voice equally strong.

"Your property? Are you kidding me! She's a human being!" Dick screamed, rage boiling up inside of him.

"Human being? Hah! She was created in a test tube. She's not a human being, she is a perversion of nature." Amanda responded. "Galatea was a mistake, one that we must quickly erase." Amanda then looked past Dick to the weakened Galatea standing behind him. "She's not even supposed to exist."

Dick had never been so angry before. "Dick, don't. Please." Galatea pleaded, but he could barely even hear her through his own violent thoughts. He clenched his weapons tighter and thought about moving in on Waller. A soldier stepped forward and pointed his gun toward Dick, and Dick was immediately staring him down. The soldier stood unafraid, and Dick was practically looking down the barrel now.

"Go ahead and try it." Dick threatened, his eyes narrowing. "I guarantee you that my reflexes are faster than your trigger finger" The soldier began to squeeze the trigger. Dick stood frozen, watching. To Galatea, it seemed that time had slowed to a crawl. Everything was still. The only thing in motion now was the man's finger, squeezing tighter on the trigger with ever passing moment.

Then a baterang flew out and sliced the gun in half! "Stop!" A heavy voice barked. Everyone looked over and saw Batman on top of a tall topiary sculpture, looking down on them. Soon everyone else was in the area too, ready for a fight with Cadmus. Now the soldiers looked afraid, there were around thirty of them, but they knew it was a fight they would probably not win. And yet Amanda and her blonde bodyguard were completely unafraid.

"Mr. Wayne, you know I have a long running respect for you, but I cannot allow you to hide this fugitive any longer." She announced.

"Galatea is not threat. Especially not right now, look at her! She can barely stand!" Batman argued.

"Why do you think we chose now to come here? She will recover, and when she does she could be right back to her hold ways."

"What were her old ways, Waller? She just blindly followed your orders like a robot!"

Now Amanda was silent, unable to come up with a reasonable response. Finally, began to turn and walk away. "You're waging a war with Cadmus now, Mr. Wayne. I hope you're ready for the fight of a lifetime."

"If you don't want to completely waste your own time, deal with Superman. He's actually a threat to you!"

"We are well aware of Kal El's actions, Mr. Wayne. And we assure you appropriate action will be taken. We have an ambush set up, we're taking him out later tonight."

"It'll never work!" Batman argued. "You'll be throwing away the lives of your soldiers for nothing!"

"And I suppose you have a better plan, Mr. Wayne?"

Batman was silent. He had a few plans, but she wouldn't agree with any of them. "Just as I thought." Amanda said, continuing her pace. She climbed back into the jeep, but before leaving, she called, "Oh, and Batman, if I see you or any of your little helpers within a thousand kilometers of this ambush, you'll be taken down on the spot. Do not interfere. Is that clear?" She demanded. Everyone was silent, and soon the jeeps drove off, with the hovercrafts quickly rocketing ahead.

Batman headed back down, deep into the cave. He walked over to the fairly new telepad he had installed in the batcave. Then he called Flash.

"Hello?" Wally West's voice came on the other end.

"It's Batman. Are you still at headquarters?"

"Um, yeah, I've been here for quite a while. Where have you been?"

"Focus. How many people are in the tower with you?"

"Just Shayera and J'onn, and they're both asleep. J'onn keeps waking up for like five minutes at a time, then passes out again."

"Ok, I need you to go into the trophy room and get me something… send it through one of the telepads to the batcave."

"Um… ok, what is it?"

"You can't tell anyone about this. Is that understood?"

"Yeah, sure. What do you need?"

"Our portal to the Phantom Zone."

_Meanwhile, back on Themyscira… _

Diana had used the healing waters on Themyscira, and had almost completely recovered now. She was still scarred to some degree, but for the most part she had physically healed. Now she had something more important to do. She had to confront her mother again. She headed into the palace and soon she was face to face with Hippolyta, still filled with an almost visible rage toward Superman.

"Mother, what are you planning to do?" Diana asked.

"I am planning to kill this man, no matter what the cost." Hippolyta said.

Diana was silent for a long time, she felt like she should protest, but did she really want to? She wanted Clark dead, she couldn't deny that. After what he had done… she hated him. And she felt horrible for hating him, because he had been her friend for so long. But at the same time, the Clark she had seen that night… was he really the same person who had been her friend? Who had had her back in countless battles? Who had saved her life so many times, and vice versa? Not, it was not. Diana had never been so conflicted, but she knew the answer.

"Mother, if you were to kill him, I would not shed a tear. But what worries me is your methods of doing so. How exactly do you plan to reach him?" Diana asked cautiously.

"Artemis and I are still discussing strategy. We know that you have grown attached to the world of man; we will try to avoid casualties. But I assure you Diana, I will have this man's head on a spike, whether they hand him over to us or not."

"Mother, you must know that this plan is outright idiocy. I-"

"Not another word Diana. I refuse to stand idly by and ignore what this monster of a man has done to you! It happened to my sisters and I… with Heracles… and I would have given anything to destroy him. I do not want you to go through the same torment, my daughter."

"But senseless violence will not ease anyone's pain! We are warriors, but we are not savages! The Amazon's isolated themselves for the soul purpose of avoiding conflict!" Diana argued.

"But we have never been provoked to step out of isolation before. I will have justice brought to you."

"But what if I don't want that?" Diana screamed, angered by her mother's sudden ignorance.

"But you do, don't you?"

Diana was again silent. In truth, she did want justice. She wanted justice, and vengeance, and resolution. She just didn't want anyone else to have to die for it. But maybe no one did? Hippolyta had said that they would avoid casualties. Perhaps this wouldn't be such a terrible thing… Diana stepped outside, in deep contemplation. John was outside now, feeling much better.

"You contacted Shayera?" He asked frantically. Diana shoo her head.

"Wally. Shayera wouldn't answer, but I had Wally give her the message."

"That doesn't make me feel any better at all. West can barely tie his own shoes, I don't see him calming down a murder situation." John sighed.

"You should have more confidence in him John. He sort of looks up to you, you know."

"That's what makes him so irritating."

"Where's Atlas at?" Diana asked, wondering about the Kryptonian beast they had ridden to the island.

"Hopefully he's on the Amazonian dinner table."

"Is there anything you don't hate?" Diana asked jokingly.

"Yeah, I don't have a problem with beer." John said, seeming completely serious.

"Is your ring fixed yet?" Diana laughed.

"No, I think it might be beyond repair. I have a replacement back at HQ, when we finally get home. Where are we at on that situation, anyway?"

"Well it sounds like we might be headed back to America with an invasion force, by the looks of things."

"I thought you were talking them out of that?"

"Well the thing is… do I really want to? I mean, at this point I honestly wouldn't mind seeing Clark dead. Assuming we can even call him Clark anymore."

"Diana… it always seems like revenge can take pain away, but it never works. Never." He turned around and faced her. "Take it from a guy who's tried. If he dies, it will change absolutely nothing."

"How would you know?"

John was silent for a very, very long time.

"John? Is- is there something I don't know about?"

"You know I was a Marine, right?"

"Yeah, a veteran U.S. Marine, everyone knows that."

"Yes, but no one knows exactly why I left the service."

"Why?"

"It was seventh year of service. I had spent seven years sharing blood, sweat and bullets with my unit. We began moving in on a group of terrorists, biggest assignment of our lives. But we got caught. We would have killed on the spot, except this one guy in the unit, one of my closest friends, he scored us a jeep. But he took a bullet. He told us to go on without him, said he'd take as many enemies out as he could. We drove off for a bit, but I couldn't take it. I jumped off and started running back. But as I was running back for him, the jeep exploded behind me. The son of a bitch had planted a bomb. It was a setup, the bullet he had taken was a blank! He had been paid off by the terrorists to kill our whole unit. I took out all the terrorists in the area in a rage, and chased him out into the desert. We fought for a while, but he overpowered me. I demanded to know why. Why he would sell himself out like that, why he would betray us to make a quick buck. And he looked me in the eyes, he kept a straight face, and he said… 'just business.' Then he shot me in the back of the head. I've got a metal plate in my head now, you know. I'm lucky to have survived that bullet."

"Oh… John, I never knew…" Diana said.

"Just business. I couldn't believe it. Just business. Just freaking business! That's why he killed our whole unit! That's why he stabbed us all in the back! That's why he put a bullet in my head!" John was getting angry now. "The story doesn't end there… after I recovered; I wasn't ready to let him go. I snuck off base almost every night. I stalked him for months. Hour by hour every night, I stalked him, watching. Finally, after I was at a point where I hated him on an unimaginable scale… I attacked him. I beat him senseless, I pummeled him within an inch of his life. And then I drew my knife, and I looked into his eyes. He begged for his life, he asked how I could do that to him… and you know what I said? I said, just business. And then I killed him. I one slash, I killed him."

"Then what happened John?"

"Then I stood up, dropped the knife, and wanted to die. Revenge doesn't fix anything Diana. Two wrongs really don't make a right. After I killed him, I only felt more empty. More horrible."

He looked her deep in the eyes now. "You get pushed, you want to push back. Hatred is almost second nature to humans. But please Diana… don't push back. Be the adult and walk away. I don't know what we're supposed to do… but if you kill Clark, I promise you it won't change anything at all."

Diana nodded. She really did understand, but at the same time, what choice was there? No prison could hold Superman forever. It seemed the only thing they could do was kill him, no matter what the cost. John was right about one thing, hatred is second nature.

_Meanwhile, Back at a lake near Wayne Manor… _

"Hey! Galatea?" Dick called, running. After Cadmus visited, Galatea had just run off. He had gone out searching for her, but so far had turned up empty. Then finally, he reached a lake out in the woods behind Wayne Manor, a private lake that Dick had really never known existed. And there Galatea sat, on the shore, with her feet dangling in the water. There was very little shallow here, it was more of a water hole than a lake. You walked off of land, and the water was immediately six feet deep at least. Dick sat down next to her.

"Are you always this persistent?" She asked distantly. She had her knees up and her arms wrapped around then, her baby blue eyes completely unfocused.

"Yup. It's part of my charm." Dick smiled, but Galatea seemed to be in no mood. She was extremely silent. "Listen… I'm sorry Galatea."

"For what?"

"Well, first for whining about my life to you back there. That was pretty immature of me, I grew up in a multi-billionaire's mansion, what do I have to complain about? You obviously had things a lot harder." He told her, but the look on her face made him think that that may have been the wrong thing to say.

"It's alright. If I went around comparing everybody's back story to mine, I'd just depress myself." She said.

"No offense, but you already seem kind of depressed. What's the deal, you just kind of, ran away?"

"Well what would you have done, Dick? I just had it announced to me that I'm a mistake and a perversion of nature!"

"Don't listen to that crap, Galatea. The problem with Cadmus is that they think with their guns, not with their hearts."

"Don't most people think with their brain?"

"You know what I mean! Cadmus isn't capable of looking past you're power. To them, you're just another weapon, and they refuse to look any further than that. They refuse to see the person in you, the amazing, fun, hardcore, amazingly attractive person." Dick said, with not a hint of dishonesty in his tone.

"You're a great guy, really Dick." Galatea smiled, but then her smile quickly turned into a frown and she looked down. "That's why you need to stay away from me."

"What?"

"Dick, I'm practically a bullet magnet! And anyone near me tends to get caught in the crossfire. I'll never be able to have a normal life, I'll always be hunted. Always dehumanized. I wouldn't want to mix you up in my life. Like Waller said… I'm not even supposed to exist."

"Don't think like that, come on. Normal is boring anyway. You think I live a normal life? I dress up in leotards and pound the crap out of criminals every night! And about that other part… don't ever believe that Galatea. You may not be exactly what Cadmus was expecting, but you exist for a reason. It's just not the reason they wanted you to exist for. You aren't meant to be a weapon; you're so much more than that." D

"And how would you know so much about me, huh?"

"I spent the first half of my life dealing with sleazy circus bookies; I learned to figure people out really fast."

"You came from a circus?" Galatea grinned. "That explains the taste in wardrobe." They both chuckled. Then another silence fell upon them. To try and ease the awkwardness in the air, Dick began skipping rocks along the surface of the water.

"Let me try that…" Galatea said, picking up a rock. She tossed it out with, forgetting her own strength. The rock plowed through the surface of the water and slammed into the other side of the lake, digging into the ground and making a very small trench. "Oops…"

"That was awesome!" Dick exclaimed, awestruck. And then they both began laughing hysterically. But Galatea's laugh was a bit uneasy. She placed her hand on her shoulder, where her wound had been. "Does it still hurt?" Dick asked.

"Kind of… it just sort of stings a little." She responded.

"You should clean the wound out, those clothes are a bit dirty from our fight with Superman earlier, some bacteria could have come off your shirt and infected it." Dick told her. She nodded and then peeled her shirt off, much to Dick's surprise. He tried not to let her catch him checking her out; examining her perfect figure, the glow of her skin was broken only by the whiteness of her bra. She grinned, and Dick knew he had been caught. He quickly turned his head.

She took a handful of water, let out a light beam of heat vision into it to kill any bacteria, and then cooled the water back down with a light burst of super breath. She then used the water to clean the puncture wound on her shoulder. As she performed this task, Dick couldn't help but notice several scars on her back.

"What's with all the scars?" He asked.

"Remember how I told you I was punished by Cadmus whenever I showed emotion?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"That's evidence of the punishments." She said distantly. Dick had not realized how much she had been abused during her time with Cadmus.

"I'm sorry." He said.

"Why are you sorry? You didn't do anything?"

"Well… I just feel sorry for you, I guess."

"Well don't, I hate that." She said, almost angrily. Then she turned and looked him in the eyes. "Oh and, thanks for sticking up for me back there."

"Not a problem." He said, holding her gaze.

"You know, I think we were in the middle of something before they showed up." She smiled.

"I believe we were." He said, and then they both leaned in, meeting in a passionate kiss. After about a minute, they were interrupted by a voice off to the left.

"Aw, isn't that cute." Huntress said, her arms folded and a grin spread across her face. Question was next to her, standing rather awkwardly. Dick and Galatea immediately pulled away.

"What are you two doing out here?" Dick demanded.

"Apparently the same thing you." Question said, immediately pulling the zipper up on his pants.

"Gross…" Galatea whispered, shaking her head at the thought of Huntress and Question, and, _that._

"This isn't exactly what it looks like." Dick smiled as Galatea quickly pulled her shirt back on.

"I think we should get these back in the cave. We don't need any more problems right now." Huntress said, and her and Question motioned for the two of them to follow. Reluctantly, Dick and Galatea went along. Soon they were all in the cave.

"Well where have you all been?" Black Canary asked.

"Vic and I caught these two making out by the lake." Huntress said with no subtlety at all.

"What?" Batman shouted, anger filling his tone. He grabbed his old apprentice and pulled him into a corner. "Dick, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"What? I really like her, ok."

"You just met her this afternoon!"

"So?"

"This is ridiculously stupid, Dick. As soon as this is all over, she's going back to prison. You know that right?"

"What? You can't do that to her!"

"I can and I will. She's a criminal Dick, like it or not. She broke plenty of laws, she'll serve time for them."

"You're insane! I'm not letting that happen!" Dick said defiantly.

"Its idiocy to form bonds with the people we fight. Unfortunately our line of work restricts us, Dick. I thought you understood that by now."

"Idiocy huh? I guess that puts us in the same boat, considering you did the same damn thing with Selina! Oh wait; you went a step further didn't you? Because you and Selina had that psycho son!"

"That's different!"

"How?"

"Selina was a thief. Galatea was a monster!" As soon as Batman said that, Dick punched his mentor in the face. Suddenly all eyes were on them. Batman quickly recovered, and he said nothing. It was almost as if he expected the punch. He probably did. "Facts are facts Dick. I want you to forget about her, starting immediately."

"Yeah, of course that's what you want. Of course you don't care at all what I want! You _never _cared about what I want!" Dick shouted. "You're just a selfish little child! You're stuck in the past Bruce! Mommy and Daddy died when you were little, we all get that. You aren't the only one! Hundreds of kids lose their parents! But hundreds of kids don't dress up like a bat and beat clowns to a pulp every night! Grow the hell up Bruce!"

Now it was Batman's turn. He backhanded Dick so hard that the young man fell flat on his back, clutching his cheek. "Stupid kid. You don't know what you want. You never did." Batman said angrily, walking away. Galatea helped Dick up, and he quickly headed for an exit.

"Dick, hold on-" Galatea pleaded.

"Come on kid, don't do anything stupid." Green Arrow said calmly.

"Yeah, just cool down Dick. Everyone's really stressed right now, we can't let our anger get the best of us." Black Canary agreed, but he wouldn't listen. Galatea grabbed his arm, and he looked back at her pleadingly.

"I- I need some time alone." He said, and after a moment she nodded and let him go.

Batman headed over to the telepad, where Question happened to be standing. "That was a little harsh." Question said.

"Shut up." Batman barked. The telepad began to glow. "It's about time Flash." The dark knight muttered. A device soon appeared on the telepad, a device that opened a portal to the Phantom Zone. Batman picked it up and headed into a private area of the batcave.

"What are you going to do?" Question called after him.

"I'm going to end all of this."


	14. Drastic Measures

**Sorry the wait was a bit longer than normal, everyone. I've had some trouble finding time to work on this chapter, but it's finally done and I hope you enjoy! For some reason this chapter feels too rushed to me though, so please give me your input and review! **

Chapter Fourteen: Drastic Measures

Lex Luthor looked out upon the city from his office window, smiling. Phases two and three were about to be put into action, and soon he would have everything he ever wanted… everything. Dr. Hamilton was in the room two, beginning to question his employer's sanity. Luthor had gazed out the window for nearly twenty four hours, a near psychotic grin on his face.

"Mr. Luthor… is everything all right?" Hamilton asked.

"Yes. Yes of course yes! Everything is perfect!" Luthor turned and stared at Hamilton. "And through you I made all of this possible."

"It was my pleasure sir. Cadmus is planning an ambush, you know. They'll no doubt have Deadshot on standby, and there are rumors floating around that Metallo is playing the role of Waller's new bodyguard."

"Yes, yes, but it's not a problem. They won't succeed, we have certain factors in our advantage that guarantee us that."

"Mr. Luthor…?"

"What is it, Dr. Hamilton?"

"The Superdrones, and the war suit… they aren't really going to be used how you say they will, are they?" Dr. Hamilton asked, realizing that Luthor's motives may be more malevolent than he thought.

"What? You don't think I'm really going to use the Superdrones as the Superhuman Police Force? You don't really think I'm going to put all of your hard work into keeping the world safe?" Luthor smiled, opening up a desk drawer.

"Well Mr. Luthor, I-"

"Well Dr. Hamilton, just a few days ago, I would have assured you that you were wrong. I would have promised that my intentions were pure, that I would keep the world safe from anything who may threaten it…" He looked up, smiling wickedly. "But unfortunately for you Dr. Hamilton, that time has passed. Your job is done, and I no longer need you." He pulled a pistol out of the drawer, and pointed it toward the doctor. "So I must say, you are right. I am the villain of this story." Luthor then pulled the trigger. The bullet sailed, and sank into the doctor's chest. Luthor emptied a few more rounds into him, just to make sure he was dead.

Once the blood had spilled, Luthor put the gun away, and clapped his hands. Two guards walked into the room, startled by the sight of the dead body on the floor. "Gentlemen, dispose of this body, please." Luthor said. The men nodded uncomfortably, cleaned up the blood, and removed the corpse.

Luthor then turned back to the window. "I will have to dispose of Batman, however. This is the perfect opportunity to put the Superdrones to the test."

_Meanwhile, in Central Metropolis…_

Superman and Supergirl soared through the air, Supergirl being very uncertain about her cousin's intentions. Then Superman stopped momentarily. Below, a mugger was violently assaulting an elderly woman, trying to take her purse. Superman was going to do nothing, but he knew that he had to keep Supergirl's trust for now, so he reluctantly decided to play the hero. He flew downward, with her following close behind. In a blur, he appeared right next to the startled mugger, grabbed his wrist, and snapped it. The mugger's pistol clattered down on the cement. The screaming criminal fell to the ground, and Superman held him down onto the concrete, wanting to hurt him. Superman was about to give into his murderous temptation, when he heard a click behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see that the elderly woman had removed her wig, revealing that she was really in her twenties. And she was holding a Cadmus issue gun toward Superman!

Immediately, nearly a thousand soldiers burst out of stores crowding the streets, all of them heavily armored and heavily armed. Forty helicopters began circling the area, shining spotlights on their Kryptonian target.

"Damn it…" Superman muttered.

"Clark, what's going on?" Supergirl called, immediately on the defensive. A series of large, armored, tank like vehicles pulled up and surrounded the area. Then finally, Superman looked down at the mugger he had taken down, and now realized that it was no criminal. Oil leaked out from it's broken wrist. It looked up, and it's faceplate fell off, revealing a metallic face with a red countdown clock! The clock his zero, and there was a powerful explosion that blasted the man of steel into the concrete. When the smoke began to clear, his costume was burned, tattered, torn to ribbons. But there was barely a scratch on his body.

"Take him down!" A booming voice called, and immediately the thousands of soldiers opened fire. The tank like vehicles also launched a series of rockets that rained down on the target like a nuclear meteor shower. Superman zoomed off at superhuman speed, barely evading the explosions, bullets bouncing off of his flesh. But then he realized something strange… he was in pain. A lot of pain. These bullets were kind of like the neutron arrows Green Arrow had been equipped with, they could damage Superman. He had to take cover. He released a powerful wave of heat vision, destroying several jeeps and taking down around two hundred soldiers. He soared up higher, but was struck by another rocket, blasting him through the window of a nearby building. He tumbled across the floor and then ducked behind a wall, taking cover. But his peace did not last long, because Cadmus had rigged by the building with explosives.

His motion triggered them, and he was blasted out into the hail of bullets. "Where's Kara?" He grunted, deciding he needed help. He focused in with his super hearing and located her high above, scouting out the battlefield. She seemed confused, as to be expected. He had been keeping her in the dark about everything the last few days. He would not be able to hold her trust much longer, he knew. But right now, there were more important things to worry about. He released a powerful burst of super-breath that struck the ground, creating a tuft of smoke. Superman zoomed down and began striking down soldiers with punches and kicks, sending them all flying. After taking down about a hundred of them, he spotted Amanda Waller looking down form a large helicopter. Superman didn't know why she would think it was a good idea to appear in person, but it didn't matter. He would take her out here and now.

Amanda Waller looked down from the helicopter and saw Superman beginning to fly toward her. Her blonde bodyguard began to step forward, but she stopped him. "Not yet." She said. Then she looked to a group of gunners on the helicopter, manning massive steel weapons.

"What exactly are those supposed to do, anyway?" The bodyguard asked.

"Ever heard of a Railgun?" She asked.

"Yeah, its and electromagnetic weapon mainly used in naval warfare, they fire a projectile at seven times the speed of sound." The bodyguard nodded.

"Well these are Cadmus Railguns. They fire a half-ton projectile at seven hundred times the speed of sound!" She said proudly. He gave the gunners the signal to fire. "This'll kill the poor bastard." She smiled.

There was a loud charging up sound, and then the Railguns fired. But before their ears had even registered that a sound had been made, Superman had been blasted sixty feet into the ground by the blast! After several minutes of waiting, he began to crawl out of the rubble, barely alive from the impact.

"Hit him again." Waller ordered, knowing that he would not get back up the next time. But as the guns were charging up for another shot, the entire helicopter tipped back violently, and the Railgun projectiles flew into the air and demolished the top of a skyscraper nearby. Waller looked back to see Supergirl flipping the helicopter upwards, making them miss. Then Superman fired a beam of heat vision into the gas tank on the now upturned bottom of the helicopter. There was an explosion, and the burning helicopter fell down to the ground, taking out a large number of soldiers.

Supergirl crawled out of the rubble, injured. "Clark?" She asked, shocked.

"Sorry. I saw my shot, and I took it." He said darkly. He scanned the rubble with his x-ray vision, but was shocked to see a heartbeat. Amanda Waller was alive, in fact, she was uninjured! Her mysterious blonde bodyguard had shielded her from the blast. Superman also noticed that he had no heartbeat at all, and yet he was still moving. Superman grunted and flew toward the burning debris.

But then, with his superhuman hearing, he heard a loud click far behind him. He turned a bit too late, and saw a flash of green. The kryptonite bullet struck him in the collar bone! Just below where Deadshot had been aiming. Cadmus had had Deadshot on standby, with Kryptonite bullets. Superman fell to the ground, instantly weakened. He began crawling, and was then met with a hail of bullet fire from the soldiers. Some of the bullets began to break his weakened skin. Supergirl went in and started taking down the blasting soldiers. Superman had another objective. He slowly levitated up, fighting the kryptonite, but before he could move toward where Deadshot had fired from, a cold, metallic arm wrapped around his throat.

The blonde had grabbed Superman. The helicopter explosion had burned away most of the fake skin covering his body, revealing a menacing mechanical one. Metallo!

"Metallo… Waller's bodyguard, huh? Pathetic." Superman choked out.

"Well Cadmus came to me and offered me a chance to kill you, and I just couldn't resist." Metallo said joyfully, choking the man of steel harder. He then opened up his chest plate, revealing his kryptonite power core. It immediately began killing the killer in his arms, along with the bullet in his collar bone. Plus, now that Superman was still, Deadshot prepared to take another shot. The man of steel was going to die.

_Meanwhile, in a field outside Gotham… _

Dick stood in the wind, standing in a field of tall grass, blowing above his waist. He gazed up at the moon, entranced by thoughts of recent events. And even more so, thoughts of Galatea. But those sweet, pleasant thoughts were interrupted by the dark, hateful thoughts of Batman. There had always been a lot of unspoken aggression between the two of them. Their relationship had always been pretty rocky, and it had never improved, not really. They just hid it as best they could, but Dick was tired of hiding now. He had gotten to a point where he hated his foster father, hated every fiber of his very being. "I am so done with this…" He sighed, kicking the ground.

Then, in the waning moonlight, a shadow flashed across him, just briefly. "What the…?" Dick looked up; trying to find whatever object had just made the shadow. But he was suddenly greeted by a powerful metallic kick. Dick flew across the field, tumbling hard. He caught the ground and slid through the weeds, disoriented. Once he refocused, he saw what appeared to be Superman standing several feet away from him. But after several moments of staring, he realized that this was not Superman. It looked like him, except it was… shiny. This was a robot of some sort. Dick threw out a series of birderangs, but the robot Superman blasted a beam of heat vision that incinerated them all. Dick ducked to the side and ran around back, drawing his escrima sticks.

The robot quickly reacted and struck Dick down. But why was it after him…?

_Meanwhile, back at JLA Headquarters…_

Wally West was bored out of his mind when he heard a loud crash from the infirmary. He zoomed over and in half a second, he was in the room. J'onn had woken up again, and was now crawling out of his bed. Wally quickly went to work pinching out the candles, realizing J'onn might actually be awake for more than a few minutes this time.

Soon Shayera had entered into the room, her mace at her side. "What's going on?" She asked, heaving heard the crash.

"J'onn's up." Wally said excitedly. J'onn wasn't exactly the life of any party, but it was easily the most exciting event that had happened at headquarters for several days.

"Are you okay?" Shayera asked, helping J'onn to his feet.

"Where is Batman?" He demanded.

"Well we-"

"Where! I must find him!" J'onn shouted.

"Whoa, calm down alright? You must have been dreaming or something." Wally suggested.

"No. You sent him the Phantom Zone Portal Generator, did you not?" J'onn questioned.

"Um, yeah, but how did you know that?"

"My body was inactive. My mind was not. I am well aware of everything that has transpired." J'onn explained. "Now we must find Batman. He plans to do something drastic."

"How do you know?" Shayera asked.

"Trust me! We must stop him now, before he worsens the situation."

"Ok, well how are we supposed to find him?"

"His suit. He installed a tracker in it so that Diana could find him he ever went missing. She was the only one who he ever trusted with that knowledge."

"Wait, if Diana was the only one he told about this tracker, then how do you know about it?" Shayera asked, confused.

"I sometimes accidentally read minds in my sleep." J'onn responded.

"Ok, we'll have to discuss that one later… but for now, how do we track him?" Wally asked, doing his best to stay on topic.

"Diana has a device in her room, one capable of locating him at any time. We will use it. Hurry."

_A few minutes later, back in the field outside Gotham…_

Dick evaded a series of heat vision blasts, and did his best to keep his distance, though long range combat didn't seem to be doing him much good either. This Superman robot seemed invincible. Just as Dick was about to be taken out, he was swept up in a blur of orange. Suddenly Dick was on the other side of the field, with the Flash at his side!

"Wally? What are you doing here?" Dick asked.

"Dude, I have no idea." Flash said, sounding totally confused.

The Superman robot began to move in, but was then struck by an invisible punch from J'onn. The robot tumbled across the dirt for a few feet, standing up quickly. J'onn came back into focus, and struck the robot again. Then Hawkgirl came in from behind and began beating the robot with her mace. It was soon overpowered by the two of them and their constant onslaught, and the robot was pummeled into scrap metal. J'onn and Hawkgirl approached the dumbfounded Flash and Dick.

"Um, what is going on?" Dick demanded.

"You tell us. Why the hell did Batman's tracker lead us to you?" Hawkgirl demanded.

"What? Tracker? What are you talking about?"

J'onn reached over and plucked a microscopic device off of the corner of Dick's mask, a place where he never would have found it.

"It would seem Bruce anticipated this. He planted the tracer on Dick so that we would not be able to find him." J'onn said, crushing the device between his fingers.

"Wait, so bats planted that thing on me… when the hell did he… wait a minute! When he backhanded me!" Dick shouted, angry. "Figures. Even when he hits me, there's some sort of hidden purpose behind it!" He punched a tree at the edge of the field.

"Calm down kid. Do you know where Bruce went?" Hawkgirl asked.

"No, but I know he had a whole posse gathered in the batcave. I could take you guys there, but he's probably gone by now. I don't know." Dick sighed.

"So what about the crazy superman-robot thing? Where did that come from?" Wally chimed in.

"Well I was smashing it, I saw a LexCorp insignia on the inside." Hawkgirl noted.

"Batman poses a threat to Luthor. Perhaps Luthor somehow managed to tap into the frequency of Batman's tracker, and then sent this robot after him. Unfortunately, the tracker happened to be on Dick at the time." J'onn suggested.

"Um… guys, look!" Wally pointed. The robot was beginning to rise, and something very strange was happening. It seemed to be recovering! The metal was literally re-growing, replacing the damaged bits.

"I'm pretty sure robots aren't supposed to heal!" Flash yelled, backing up.

"What is that thing?" Hawkgirl gasped, equally shocked.

"What the… Oh my God… it's like some kind of organic steel!" Dick noticed.

"Is that even possible?" Hawkgirl screamed.

"Ever heard of the Metal Men?" Dick asked, raising an eyebrow. "It's definitely possible."

The now recovered Superman drone attacked. J'onn moved in, but was quickly blasted into the ground. The robot's strength was suddenly far superior.

"Wait a minute, J'onn just pounded that thing a second ago!" Flash pointed out.

"Incredible… it's not only recovering, it's evolving! That robot, it's constantly upgrading itself based on the data it collects from its battles!" Dick said in disbelief.

"So basically the harder we hit this thing, the stronger its gonna get?" Hawkgirl asked, readying her mace.

"Pretty much." Dick nodded.

"Wonderful."

"So, what do you suggest we do?" Flash asked frantically, as the drone stood seeming to choose its next target.

"I suggest you fight it." Dick said.

"Wait, me? What for!" Flash screamed.

"I fought this thing for like twenty minutes before you guys showed up, and J'onn and Shayera fought it for a while too. It already knows all we've got up our sleeves. You're the only one here who can surprise." Dick explained.

"But-" Flash began to protest, but Hawkgirl pushed him forward.

"Dick and I will take the left and right flanks to distract it, while you come in and take it down. But do it fast, before it can adapt." She instructed.

"But I can't do this! I mean, all I do is run fast!" He argued.

"Wally, have some self confidence for once, will you?" She said, looking him in the eyes. "We kind of need it right now."

"Ok…" Flash sighed. Dick and Hawkgirl charged out. The drone quickly blocked both their attacks, but in an instant Flash zoomed forward, vibrating as fast as he could. He vibrated his very molecules through the drone's metallic body, and the speed of the vibration created an incredible amount of friction, which melted the drone from the inside out.

Flash phased into focus behind the drone, and fell to his knees, dizzy. The robot melted into a pile of molten steel.

"See, was that so hard?" Hawkgirl asked. Flash responded by vomiting from dizziness.

"It might not have been too hard for you… you didn't just put yourself through an organic-steel paint shaker!" Flash snapped. J'onn began to get to his feet. Everyone regrouped. Dick took a chunk of steel that was still somewhat solid.

"I want to learn more about this." He said, sliding the steel into a compartment on his belt. There was a strange shifting in the puddle of melted metal, as if the machine were already trying to recover. "We'd better go. I'll take you guys to the cave."

_Meanwhile, back at Central Metropolis…_

Supergirl pried Metallo off of her cousin, but Metallo quickly overpowered her, and began killing her with the kryptonite radiation. Superman, now beaten within an inch of life and getting worse by the second, moved in for vengeance. He flew toward Deadshot, who was on a tower about a mile away. Superman crashed through the wall of the tower and attacked the sniper. Deadshot began to open fire, but was not quick enough. Superman grabbed the sniper and slammed him against a wall.

"If you're gonna kill me, please get creative with it. I'd prefer to die in a spectacular fashion." Deadshot smiled. Superman smiled back.

"How about something like this…" Superman then flew off, still carrying the villain. He then threw Deadshot from a great distance. Metallo turned and was suddenly greeted by Deadshot's head burrowing into his chest, crushing the kryptonite core. Metallo slid across the ground, and there was a massive green flash. Deadshot rolled over, covered in blood and burned from the wave of radiation.

"Yeah… kinda like that." He chuckled painfully, coughing up blood. Then he went completely silent. Metallo rose uneasily, most of his kryptonite core now destroyed. He would not be as powerful with less to power him. He still have a great advantage over the weakened Superman, he knew, but the combination of a wounded Superman and a healthy Supergirl might be a problem. Then Superman collapsed, quaking from the bullet lodged in his collar bone. That restored Metallo's confidence quite a bit.

Supergirl looked around, stunned at the carnage around her. Everything was beginning to make sense, and she couldn't believe she had been so blind…

A storm began to roll in, a heavy storm. Thunder was already blasting, and rain pouring down like bullets. Metallo kicked the dying Superman in the face, flipping him over onto his back. Metallo beat the former hero with a series of brutal punches. "This feels so damned good!" Metallo laughed, lifting the man of steel by the throat. But then Superman began to levitate in the air, taking Metallo with him. He was completely drained of all power now, and was operating off of pure willpower.

"Give up! Don't you get it? I win!" Metallo screamed, punching Superman in the face. But painfully, forcefully, Superman still pulled them higher. Soon they were above all the surrounding buildings. Superman then rolled over, making it so that Metallo was facing upward. "What are you doing, freak? That kryptonite getting to your head?" Metallo taunted.

But then Superman's idea began to come into play. A bolt of lightning flashed down. Metallo, being high in the air and made of metal, was struck. Destroying the rest of his exposed kryptonite core! As soon as the flash faded, Superman and Metallo both fell lifelessly down to the Earth below, striking with powerful force. Both forced themselves to stand, shaking violently. Metallo was only operating off of reserve power, but that would not last forever. He moved in slowly on the dying Superman.

"You… I – am sick – of you!" Metallo screamed, getting ready to attack. Then there was a very familiar sound to the left. The sound of a Cadmus Railgun charging. On top of a pile of rubble stood Supergirl, holding a Railgun and pointing it down at Metallo.

"Good job Kara… good, good job… now finish it!" Superman called. She was stone silent, frozen. "Kara, do it!" He called again after several minutes. More frozenness, more silence. "Kara!" He screamed violently now.

"I'm sorry Clark." Kara sighed, closing her eyes. Then she pointed the gun toward Superman, ready to fire.

Realizing what was happening now, Superman dug in painfully and pulled a chunk of kryptonite bullet out of his collar bone. He threw it forcefully at his cousin, and struck her in the thigh. Kara toppled over, affected by the radiation. The fall made her miss, and the Railgun fired and hit Metallo, blowing him to pieces.

Superman began stumbling forward, ready to kill his cousin. He was laughing hysterically. But then there was a shuffling sound above. Superman looked up to a pile of rubble behind him and saw a dark black figure blending against the night sky. The familiar figure of Batman. And in his hand was the portal opener to the Phantom Zone.

"Bruce! Your last beating wasn't enough to put you away?" Superman said in a somewhat annoyed tone, turning to stare down Batman.

"Shut up Clark." He pointed the device toward him. "This is over. For you."


	15. The End Begins

Chapter Fifteen: The End Begins 

The destroyed shuttle drifted endlessly through the void of space. The LexCorp insignia on the rocket was still in tact, gleaming in the light of the stars. This was the space shuttle that Superman had destroyed nearly a week before, when he had attacked astronaught Hank Henshaw before the rocket had even taken off.

"What's that doc?" Red asked, looking out the window of the spacecraft used by the Challengers of the Unknown. Doc had built the spacecraft, and Ace piloted it masterfully. Red and Rocky had been sitting casually in the lounge when they saw the ruined space shuttle drifting.

"Interesting. It's a destroyed shuttle, a LexCorp shuttle judging by the insignia." Doc said, staring out the window. "Ace! Pull over by that wreckage!" Doc called.

"Sure thing." Ace called back, and soon they were hovering toward the ruins. Doc then sent Rocky and Red out in their space suits to search. They quickly suited up and went out into the vacuum of space, stepping onto the devastated shuttle. After sifting through some of the wreckage, Rocky found something interesting.

"Hey Red! Get over here, I think I found something!"

Red moved reluctantly over to his slow-witted friend, almost certain that he had found something stupid as usual. But when he looked at what Rocky had discovered, he nearly threw up in his helmet. It was a bloody, mutilated, scorched human body, torn to shreds by whatever had destroyed the shuttle. Around the corpse's nearly severed head was a helmet connected to an oxygen tank.

"Oh man… somebody here bit the dust." Red sighed, moving a bit closer to the body. Then suddenly, the body's arm shot out and grabbed Red's ankle. "Oh my God!" Red shrieked, leaping backward. Rocky jumped too.

"Red? Rocky? What's going on out there?" Doc demanded through the communicator.

"We- we found a dead guy, and then things went zombie-flick on us!" Red shouted.

"Heellllppp…." The body pleaded weakly.

"Help?" Rocky repeated.

Red had somewhat calmed down, and realized that somehow, against all odds, this person was still alive. Barely alive, but alive. "Um, doc… prep the infirmary. I'm bringing in a patient." He said, leaning down and looking at the man's nametag. "A guy by the name of Hank Henshaw."

_Meanwhile, in the ocean surrounding Themyscira…_

The weapons were ready, the armies were gathered, the Amazons were moving out. Diana sat on the ship, totally conflicted. She knew that eventually, she would have to kill Superman. She had accepted that, and had no problem with that. So why did she feel so uncertain? She was filled with hatred whenever she thought about him, the things he had done to her, the torture he had put her through, she hated him. But that hate was always dampened, because she just couldn't manage to think about Superman without thinking about Clark. The Clark who she had called friend for so many years. The Clark who had saved her life so many times. The Clark who had given her hope when she needed it most.

This Clark no longer existed, she understood that. But she just couldn't bring herself to completely let go of it. She looked to Philippus, who did not appear to be eager for the coming battle. Hippolyta had been very vague about any actual plan, and as far as Diana could tell, they were just going to rush onto land and demand to have Superman. The Amazons had never been this foolish before, and Diana couldn't believe it now.

"Philippus, this is madness." Diana said sadly.

"I know." Philippus sighed, her voice equally grieved.

"What could have triggered this? Surely they cannot wish to avenge me that badly!"

"Anger does funny things, my dear. It can take the strongest, smartest, most level headed Amazon and turn her into a war-loving hate machine. Anger is a poison, and this man's actions on you have caused that poison to infect nearly everyone on Themyscira."

"But my mother has been angry before, and she's never waged war like this!"

"I am as confused as you, my dear. But-" Philippus was suddenly very quiet. "But I think your mother's anger prior to your return may have led to something else entirely."

"What do you mean?"

"While you were missing… actually just a day before you returned… Hippolyta was growing desperate. She needed assurance that you were alive. At one point in time she locked herself inside the palace and forbade anyone else from entering. I do not know exactly what she did but… but I sensed the presence of Ares on the island." Philippus said grimly.

"What…? You don't think my mother… you don't think she made a deal with Ares, do you?"

"You described earlier that you seemed to wake up from death, correct? Maybe that is more correct than you think. Perhaps it is because of Hippolyta's wager with Ares that you are alive today. But as you know, with Ares… there is always a price to pay."

Diana was silent now. Silent and filled with rage. Rage at her mother, but even more so rage toward Ares. He had manipulated all of this. At the request of her own mother, Ares had brought Diana back to life, but at the price of war with man's world. Then he had played dumb about it and struck another deal with Diana, he restored her sight in exchange for going to Themyscira… to set off a war that was already inevitable anyway. Ares was a cruel, manipulative being. This had always been known. But never before had Diana wanted to destroy him so badly.

She thought about telling Philippus of her suspicions, but decided against it. She now understood that war was completely inevitable. Nothing could put a stop to it. So the only thing Diana could do was put an end to the war early, but killing Superman quickly. If that was what the war was about, then it would be over when she had the man of steel's head. Diana grabbed a sword, and closed her eyes. She was ready for the kill.

_Meanwhile, in the batcave…_

Dick, Hawkgirl, Flash and J'onn arrived in the heart of the batcave not long after. But the sight before them was a surprising one. Question, Huntress, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Zatanna, and Galatea were all passed out on the floor, unconscious.

"What happened?" Hawkgirl said in disbelief.

"Bruce happened!" Dick shouted resentfully. "He doesn't trust anyone. Ever."

Dick ran over to where Batman had left the hypodermic needle that woke them up before, and refilled it with the fluid. He then began waking up the unconscious hero's one by one, replacing the needle each time. He woke up Galatea last, and watched her eyes open slowly.

"Hey." She said, confused about the situation. Dick couldn't help but laugh.

"Why does it feel like this has happened once already?" He grinned.

"It's your fault for always being there when I wake up. What do you just sit and stare at me while I sleep or something?" Galatea sat up, a wide smile on her face.

"Bats gassed us, as you've probably guessed." Black Canary groaned.

"Yeah, he didn't want us interfering in his big master plan." Green Arrow chimed in.

"And I thought I was paranoid." Question said, pulling himself to his feet.

"We must find him. Before he puts his plan into action." J'onn announced.

"I could put up a location spell and find him." Zatanna suggested.

"Don't waste your time. I already know where he is." Galatea responded abruptly.

"How?" Hawkgirl asked, very untrusting of Galatea.

"I had another dream-vision thing. I saw Kara getting ready to blast Superman, and Batman kind of showed up in the background. Metallo was there too… but then there was this flash of green and everything went dark. I think Superman did something to her." Galatea explained.

"Where?" Huntress demanded, already preparing her crossbow.

"Central Metropolis. Cadmus launched their ambush there."

"Figures. She's leading us right to Cadmus!" Hawkgirl shouted, raising her mace.

"Stop it! She's helping, ok? Without her we'd be totally lost right now!" Dick protested.

"If it means anything Shayera, I never really had anything against you anyways. Kara was the only one I ever had a grudge against." Galatea shrugged. Hawkgirl glared into her eyes.

"No, it doesn't mean anything at all, you murdering little bitch." She snapped, stepping closer. Galatea felt her temper flare, and she stepped forward too, but Dick put his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't. It isn't worth it." He told her, and she nodded and eased up.

"We're wasting time here. We can use the telepad to get to Metropolis faster, and maybe we can put a stop to all of this nonsense." Green Arrow said.

"Ollie's right. You guys know how to program the telepad, right?" Black Canary asked, looking to the founding JLA members.

"Yeah, J'onn's kind of an expert." Flash said. "He operates our telepads most of the time."

J'onn nodded and quickly made his way over to device. Hawkgirl followed him, being sure to shoulder Galatea along the way.

"What's her problem?" Galatea whispered.

"It's not just you. She's like that to everybody at first; she has to get to know you before she stops hating you." Flash said. Then he laughed and said, "Actually, I think she's still getting used to me."

Soon the telepad was active, and everyone prepared for transport. "There is just one problem. There are only eight teleports, meaning only eight of us can go." J'onn said.

"Can't the last two just go after?" Flash asked.

"No." J'onn shook his head. "Batman designed this telepad to go into lock after it is used, meaning that after it is used, it cannot be used again until a password is entered. He most likely did this to make sure no one could follow him anywhere." J'onn explained.

"Dick, think you could figure out Bruce's password? You know him better than anyone here." Black Canary asked.

"No, I doubt that I could figure it out. His passwords usually aren't even in English, just as another safety precaution." Dick shook his head.

"Then we have to pick two people to stay behind." Green Arrow sighed, looking among the group.

"I vote Galatea!" Hawkgirl shouted.

"We need her; she's got more muscle than anyone here… excluding J'onn, of course." Question pointed out. "Perhaps I should stay. We all know I'm not much good in the field of combat."

"But you're an irreplaceable asset when it comes to everything else, Question. Chances are we'll need you at some point." Huntress argued.

"Guys, there's no need to fight about this." Zatanna interrupted. "Truth be told, I think I could more useful elsewhere."

"Why is that?" Dick asked.

"I can hop locations with the simplest of spells. I could go out and gather reinforcements, in case things get any uglier." Zatanna suggested.

"Makes sense." Question agreed. "Who else?"

"I'll stay behind. I'm leader of the Birds of Prey now, I need to gather up the team and explain the situation to them." Black Canary said.

"No!" Huntress interrupted. "With your sonic scream, you could be more useful against enemies like Superman than I could. I'll gather up the Birds of Prey and tell them what's going on, you go and fight." She insisted.

"Ok. So it's settled then, Huntress and Zatanna won't be going with us." Dick nodded. "Everyone in agreement?" There were no objections.

"Be careful." Question warned Huntress.

"Me be careful? Honey, you're the one running out on a suicide mission against Cadmus and the man of steel!" Huntress laughed.

"Alright, let's move out then." Flash said, and the eight here were going each stepped onto the telepad, and in a bright blue flash, were sent away to Central Metropolis. Zatanna left through a magical rift, off to find reinforcements, and Huntress left on a stolen batcylce, headed to gather up the Birds of Prey. Everyone knew that this nightmare was almost over.

_Seconds Later, in Central Metropolis… _

Batman prepared to fire the portal, when in a blur he was struck by Superman, and sent tumbling into a chunk of debris. Superman picked the dark knight up by the throat. "You're slowing down Bruce… your trigger finger used to be a lot quicker than that." Superman taunted. Then he began to squeeze, suffocating the hero.

Batman took advantage of Superman's currently weakened state, and jammed the spikes on his gauntlet deep into the man of steel's ribs! Superman cried out in pain and leaped back, blood coating his left side. Batman then made a mad dash for the portal generator, when there was a bright blue flash, and suddenly a group of eight heroes were present. Dick, Galatea, Question, Black Canary, Green Arrow, J'onn, Hawkgirl and Flash had arrived on the scene.

"Shayera… sorry to J'onn's still alive." Superman said, glaring them down.

"John's just fine. Him and Diana broke out." Flash called. Superman's eyes suddenly gaped wide open.

"The game's over Clark. You have no leverage now, and we're taking you down." Dick said sternly.

"That's impossible. Diana's dead… I should know, I've been enjoying her corpse for quite a while now." Superman grinned. Batman stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he heard this. He then turned around and faced the corrupted hero down.

"On second thought…" Batman said, kicking the Phantom Zone Generator away, "I want to do this the old fashioned way." He then punched Superman in the jaw so hard that he found himself brushing chunks of Kryptonian teeth off of his knuckles!

"Ooh… did I hit a nerve?" Superman smiled wickedly. He stood up, laughing. "You know I have to say Bruce, you do have good taste. Problem is she was just a bit too feisty… so I was sure to take the fight out of her, along with the heartbeat."

"You…" Batman muttered, clenching his fists. "Clark… or Kal El, or whatever the hell you are right now… I hope you have all of your affairs in order." Batman removed his utility belt and threw it to the side, wanting to use only his bare hands for this.

"Don't lie to yourself Bruce. If you had the guts to kill, then why on Earth is the Joker still alive… huh?"

"Batman lives by one golden rule. Never take a human life. And until now, I've always considered you human… but that's no longer the case. You aren't human anymore, you aren't even Kryptonian anymore! You're just a monster. And I can kill you with absolutely no remorse."

"Do it then. Let's see if you really have it in you, Wayne!" Superman called, flying toward his enemy. But then he suddenly lost all strength and fell to the ground. He remembered that were still some chunks of kryptonite from the bullet embedded in his shoulder. "Damn it… this'll put me on an even playing field with the rodent." Superman then looked over the group of heroes surrounding him. "And with this whole group here… I actually don't stand a chance." He muttered hatefully.

He began to back up cautiously, looking for any possible way to escape. Then his eyes darted to Kara, who was lying half-consciously on the ground, the kryptonite bullet next to her head. He smiled and quickly snatched her up off the ground, levitating slowly into the air and grasping her throat threateningly.

"I'll kill her! I swear to God I'll kill her if any of you move!" He announced.

"Dick, now's your chance. Hit him." Black Canary said. Dick had prepared a high-voltage tazer to take Superman down. But Superman had noticed this, and if Dick fired Kara would be dead before it even hit.

"I can't… I can't let Kara die." Dick said, backing down.

"I can!" Galatea cried, flying off at super speed. But Dick quickly shot a grapple that wrapped around her let, and he pulled her down to the ground.

"Don't. Please don't. You can't give Bruce any sort of excuse to send you back to Ryker's." Dick pleaded. Galatea nodded resentfully and stood down too.

"Good." Superman announced. "Now… you!" He said, pointing to Green Arrow. "Kill Batman!" He demanded.

"No!" Green Arrow protested.

"Ok then." Superman said with a smile, squeezing Kara's throat so hard that blood literally gushed out her mouth!

"Stop!" Batman demanded.

"Come on Bruce! What happened to that killer instinct you supposedly just had? Where's that now?" Superman mocked. "Let's see if you really have it in you! Let's see if you have the guts! You can take me down right now and let her and I both die, or you can let me go and be the gutless loser you've always been!"

"Look at yourself Clark! Look what you've become! You're suddenly willing to kill your only blood relative just for sport! How can you live with yourself?"

"At the end of the day, she's just another victim. Just like everyone else." Superman reasoned.

Then there was a sudden flash, and blood spurted from Superman's shoulder blade, and he fell to the ground screaming. Behind him stood The Question, holding a dropped Cadmus rifle.

"Good shootin' Vic!" Flash called.

"Too bad that super hearing of his was drowned out by his own ego." Question said, dropping the gun and helping Kara to her feet.

"You shot me in the back… real heroic Vic!" Superman taunted.

"Look who's talking." Question retorted.

Batman drew a baterang and prepared to finish the man of steel off, when there was a sudden blast of heat vision from above! It struck Batman in the back and blasted him into the concrete. Everyone looked up to see two Superman Drones circling above! One of them zoomed down and punched Question in the chest, sending him flying through a window. It then spun around and struck Kara in the head, causing her go tumbling. A Superman Drone then pried the kryptonite chunks out of Superman's bullet wound.

"Why are they helping him?" Galatea asked frantically.

"Because Lex Luthor isn't done with him quite yet." Dick growled, readying his escrima sticks.

Black Canary let lose a sonic scream, but it had no affect on the Superman Drones! They then stood shoulder-to-shoulder and released a wave of super breath than blasted her off her feet.

Green Arrow opened fire, but the arrows glanced harmlessly off of the SuperDrone's metallic bodies, and then they super-speeded over. One broke his bow while the other threw him like a fastball into an over turned jeep, and Green Arrow hit the vehicle so hard that he nearly split it in half!

J'onn moved in for an attack, but one of the drones released a blast of heat vision while the other fired super-breath. The super breath expanded the flame of the heat vision, and nearly incinerated J'onn! The Martian dropped to his hands and knees, burning alive.

"Something isn't right… it seems like they've already been programmed to fight us! They know exactly how to beat each of us!" Hawkgirl realized.

"No surprise there. Luthor's probably been storing up data on us for who knows how long." Dick agreed. Galatea attacked one of the drones with a flurry of wild punches, denting the machine up, but not doing a whole lot of internal damage. The second drone shot her in the back with heat vision, and the one she had been punching elbowed her in the head, ramming her face first into it's knee, and then drop kicked her across the battlefield.

"Galatea!" Dick shouted, attacking, but he too was quickly neutralized. One of the drones went in for a kill on Dick, when suddenly it was sucked up in a large red portal! The same quickly happened to the second drone.

"What the…" Black Canary muttered, then she looked up and saw that Supergirl had risen and activated the Phantom Zone generator!

"Now it's your turn Clark." She said, firing on her cousin, who was beginning to fly away in all the confusion. He avoided the portal, but when it opened up behind him, a pair of large, monstrous arms jutted out and grabbed him by the shoulders. The arms of Doomsday!

"Diiiiieeeee!" The monster called from inside the Phantom Zone. Bits and pieces of the two Superman Drones were falling out of the portal. Doomsday had already destroyed them! Now he was moving onto Superman, pulling him violently into the portal.

"No! No! No!" Superman screamed, struggling to resist. "Kara! I'll kill you for this! I'll rip out your intestines and strangle you with them! You'll regret this you little-" But before he could finish his sentence, Question threw a rock and hit him in the head knocking him the rest of the way into the portal.

"Watch your language." Question said proudly. But something was wrong… the portal wasn't closing!

"Um… what's going on? Why won't it close?" Supergirl shouted.

"What did you set it to?" Batman asked.

"There are different settings?" She was shocked to hear this. Batman groaned and looked to the device.

"No! You set it to release everything in the Phantom Zone!"

"I- I didn't know… can you reverse or something?" She asked.

"Yes, give me a moment to-" But before Batman could tamper with the device, a beam of heat vision shot out from inside the portal and sawed it in half!

"No! I won't be locked in this hellhole!" Superman's voice called out from the inside.

"Oh… we're all doomed." Flash sighed, slumping down. Occasionally Superman would appear through the portal, but he would quickly be pulled back in the by the murderous hate machine known as Doomsday. The problem was anything else that might get out…

Then there was a sudden light. More things began escaping through the portal, most of them small things just slipping past, but all of them deadly. Then a series of shadows began to emerge…

But soon there was a sudden light, and the portal began to close. "What's happening?" Galatea called.

"It's J'onn! He's closing the portal telepathically!" Hawkgirl shouted. J'onn was struggling with all his might, this was possibly the most difficult thing he had ever done. The portal finally closed, but unfortunately, at the very moment it did so, Superman began to pry through, Doomsday still holding on. The portal closed, and Superman was free, Doomsday's severed arm still holding onto him! Superman quickly threw the arm down. Then he blasted an overturned tank with heat vision, and caused a massive explosion! By the time the smoke cleared, Superman was gone.

"Damn!" Batman screamed, punching a hole in the wall of a building! "I can't believe I let him slip away…"

"We have to find him. He couldn't have gotten far, if we split up and search the area-" Dick started to say, but Batman quickly cut him off.

"Don't waste your time. I already know where he's going." Batman said.

"Where?" They all asked nearly in unison.

"Where else…? He's going after Lex Luthor."

"Let's head out then!" Flash said, and the group began to move.

"Hold on, no reason to go on foot." Black Canary said, nodding toward a still operational Cadmus jeep." I say we take that thing." Everyone nodded and began moving toward the vehicle.

"Once second." Green Arrow called, taking out the piece of kryptonite that Batman had removed from Galatea's arm earlier. "I picked this up from the cave, thought it might come in handy." He said, then he walked over to the destroyed, smoldering body of Metallo.

"Do it." Batman nodded. Green Arrow placed the piece of Kryptonite inside Metallo's destroyed chest. Now that he was powered again, his body began to reconfigure. After several minutes, Metallo had risen again. Green Arrow began to ask for his help on the mission, but Metallo cut him off.

"Where is he?" Metallo demanded.

"He's after Luthor. Will you help?"

"Superman and Luthor both in the same place? Hell yeah I'm going, it'll be like killing two birds with one vengeful stone!" He said, standing.

"Let's go then. He's still weakened from the ambush, and he wont kill anyone else!" Dick announced, pounding his right fist into his left palm.

"I'll meet up with you guys there, but first I have something I need to do." Supergirl said, beginning to fly off.

"Where are you going?" Asked the Question.

"To find the one person who might be able to help him." She said distantly, flying off before nay more questions could be asked.

But as the group was starting up the jeep, Flash suddenly froze and pointed up. "Uh… guys! I think we have another problem right now!" He shouted. Everyone looked to where he was pointing, and realized what the shadows that had escaped the Phantom Zone were…

On a building above, looking down on the heroes with absolute superiority, were the Justice Lords.

**-Just for the record everyone, I know the Justice Lords were never in the Phantom Zone, so no one complain about that in the reviews. You'll understand why I used them when you read the next chapter.**


	16. Vengeance and Betrayal

**Sorry the update took a bit longer than normal, I've been having computer problems but it's all fixed now. I think the ending of this chapter is a bit rushed, but overall I think it's a pretty good chapter and I hope you enjoy! My version of the Justice Lords is kind of a combination of them and the Crime Syndicate of America, I take traits from both groups and combine them into this story. I know with the way this chapter ends, it seems like there is no point in having them in the story, but you'll later when everything comes together and the Justice Lords play a bigger role than it seems at first. There will only be two or three more chapters, and then Corruption will come to an end, so until then keep on reading and reveiwing everyone!**

Chapter Sixteen: Vengeance and Betrayal 

"Mr. Luthor, reports tell us that Superman is on his way." A guard reported.

"It's about time." Lex smiled, his arms folded behind his back.

"Should we prep the V.O.P. agents?" The guard asked.

"No, let Superman in. At this point he's no threat to me."

"Yes sir." The guard said nervously, questioning the President's judgment. Then he turned and left.

Luthor was smiling widely. He would soon be meeting his greatest creation.

_Meanwhile, in Central Metropolis…_

"What do we have here?" The Justice Lord Superman smiled. "Batman and a rag-tag group of nobodies."

"Can I please kill them now?" The Lord's Wonder Woman asked eagerly.

"Not quite yet. First, I simply must know… what the hell happened here?" The Lord's Superman asked, scanning the destroyed, ruined area.

"Our Superman happened. He's become a lot like you, you know that?" Batman called.

"Me?" The evil man of steel raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, he's become another soulless killer. In fact, he's on his way to kill Luthor right now."

"Interesting." He grinned widely.

"I'm not gonna wait around all day. Can we kill them or not?" The Lord's Hawkgirl demanded, readying her sword.

"Go ahead." The other-worldly Superman nodded. And at that moment, the Justice Lords attacked.

Batman immediately noticed something was wrong. Before, the Lords had consisted of an alternate Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, Green Lantern and J'onn. But their Flash had been killed years ago. And in their last encounter, the League had inadvertently killed their J'onn, so there should only have been five of them left. But there were six… somehow, the Justice Lords had obtained a new Flash!

This new evil Flash wore a bright yellow and red costume, and murder gleamed in his eyes. "Where did he come from?" The good Flash asked, noticing this too.

"I don't know, but let's send him back!" Batman announced drawing a pair of baterangs.

Galatea began to move in for an attack, when the Lord's Wonder Woman swooped in and struck her in the face. She then kicked Galatea in the stomach, but Galatea quickly retaliated with a roundhouse kick to the face, sending the evil woman spiraling.

Both Flash's immediately engaged in super-speeding combat. Batman soon recognized this new evil Flash as the Crime Syndicate member Johnny Quick! He had faded himself out of existence almost a whole year before, how had he wound up with the Justice Lords?

Before Batman could think about this any longer, he was attacked by the Lord's Batman, and the two engaged in martial arts combat. Hawkgirl battled the villainous Hawkgirl, while the evil Green Lantern attacked Green Arrow, Dick, Black Canary, and Question. Metallo and J'onn battled the Lord's Superman, and the conflict was quickly becoming an all out war!

Metallo punched the Lord's Superman in the jaw, causing him to sail back a few feet. "Good, I get a warm-up before I kill the real thing!" Metallo exclaimed excitedly.

"You… hmm… Metallo right? There used to be one of you on my world, you know. I killed you in about twenty seconds." The Lord Superman smiled. Metallo grimaced and opened up his chest plate, bombarding the Superman with kryptonite radiation. But strangely, it seemed to have no effect! The Lord's Superman burst out laughing. "On my world, things work a little bit differently, metal head!" The Superman screamed, punching Metallo with a thundering blow to the jaw. "On my world, it's prolonged exposure to direct sunlight that weakens me! But kryptonite… it fuels me! The stuff makes me stronger!"

"Oh… damn it." Metallo groaned. Suddenly, the Justice Lord's version of Batman went sailing through a brick wall behind them! The Superman turned to see the normal Batman glaring him down, armed with bat grenades!

"Johnny Quick. Where'd he come from?" Batman demanded.

"You mean our new Flash? We found him drifting around the Phantom Zone! He didn't even know how he got there, he said ran faster than ever before and then suddenly he like, phased between dimensions and ended up trapped in there with us!" The Superman explained. The wicked man of steel stepped forward. "He told us all about the CSA, and we kind of liked the idea. And considering there should only be one Superman in one dimension, we decided to change things up a bit. From now on, I go by the name… Ultraman!"

"Ultraman? That's the best you could come up with?" Metallo called from behind. "A bit cliché, don't you think?"

"Listen… Ultraman." Batman said reluctantly. "I wasn't kidding before. Our Superman really has gone off the deep end, and he's really on his way to kill Luthor."

"Good. That's how it all started for me, you know."

"I know." Batman nodded.

"That was when we became the Justice Lords. When we started killing, started taking control, started ruling."

"Yeah." Batman agreed. "But there's just one problem, isn't there?"

"What do you mean?"

"You conquered your world. But you're trapped in this world now." As soon as Batman said this, Ultraman's eyes grew wide at the realization. "You don't want to live in a world where you're not in charge, do you?" Batman continued.

"I'll ally myself with him. After all, he is ME!"

"But would have you have allied with a parallel you? Really?" Batman coaxed further. Ultraman seemed to think it over for a moment.

"Fine. What do you propose?" He asked.

"He's weakened right now. Join up with us, and we can take him down for sure. Sounds like a much better alternative, doesn't it?"

"Yeah. But what about after Superman is dead, then what?"

"Then you're free to do as you please."

"Alright then. For the time being… the Justice Lords and the Justice League… are allies." Ultraman turned and called out to his team. "Lords! Stand down!" And once the fighting had stopped, he explained the situation. Soon everyone was gathered, and in agreement.

"That jeep won't transport all of us. We'll need a bigger vehicle." Black Canary pointed out.

"Not a problem!" A feminine voice called down from above. The group looked up to see the Birds of Prey aircraft descending towards them. The doors opened up, revealing Huntress, Dove, and the pilot, Lady Blackhawk.

"You guys coming or what?" Huntress called.

"That's my woman." Question said, moving toward the aircraft.

"Shut up Vic." Green Arrow rolled his eyes, following the faceless detective.

"Hey… we aren't really going to be friendly with them, are we?" The Lord's Wonder Woman whispered to Ultraman.

"Of course not." Ultraman whispered back. "I have my own plans. But for right now, let's just play along and go with them. And when the time is right… we'll crush them all."

"You don't really trust them, do you Bruce?" Dick whispered, nodding back toward the Justice Lords.

"No. Not at all. But Ultraman is just as powerful as Superman, and his reversed weaknesses should give him an advantage, as long as we get there before the sun comes up. So for now, just keep a close eye on them. And if anything seems suspicious… I have countermeasures ready." Batman replied.

_Meanwhile, Outside the LexCorp Towers…_

Superman sailed down LexCorp Towers, located on the coast of Metropolis, where he knew he would find Lex Luthor. He didn't even bother searching with his x-ray vision, he already knew the building was reinforced with lead. But hat seemed strange to him where that there seemed to be absolutely no security. Superman decided to ignore it, and pressed on. He saw Luthor staring out an office window, watching him approach. Superman smiled, realizing that Lex had been waiting for him. "No need to disappoint him!" Superman cried, speeding up.

Lex cracked his knuckles behind his back, which were currently covered by kryptonite brass knuckles. Aside from that, he had also been injecting himself with kryptonite steroids for the past year and a half, and now felt that he was on par with Superman in one on one combat. But that wouldn't be enough for him. Luthor couldn't just kill Superman… that would be too easy. He had to destroy him. And he already had the plan in action. He pulled out a communicator and signaled someone in a different area of the building. "He's here. Start transmitting the signal."

"Yes, Mr. Luthor." The person on the other end responded. Lex smiled.

"Ok Superman, get ready to show the world what you've become."

Superman was just seconds away from his destination when the loud sound of an engine roared behind him. He looked to see the Birds of Prey aircraft flying toward him. "Damn you Bruce… will you ever just die?" Superman shouted angrily.

Inside the ship, the team sat eagerly, awaiting their final confrontation with the man of steel. Dick noticed for the first time that his hand was warmly touching Galatea's. He looked over to her and saw that she seemed pale. In fact, she was white as a ghost, and trembling horribly. The look of anxiety in her eyes was maddening.

"Galatea? Are you ok?" He asked.

"Oh… yeah, it's fine." She said distantly.

"Are you feeling sick or something?"

"No. I'm fine, really. Just… just nervous I guess."

"Don't be. We're going to put an end to all of this, right here, and right now. And then…"

"And then what?"

"And then we'll start your new life."

"What?"

"I've been thinking Galatea and… you deserve more. As soon as this is all over, I'm going to help you get a fresh, new start on life. One without Cadmus, without fear and anger and fighting, the kind of life that you've always deserved"

"Why do you care so much?" Galatea laughed uncomfortably.

"Because I want to see you happy." Dick shrugged. They were silent for a moment. "Because… well, I think I'm kind of in love with you."

Galatea suddenly looked full of fear again. And then a look of anguish filled her eyes. She began to cry.

"Galatea? Oh man… I'm sorry, I uh… I meant, as a friend, you know?" Dick stuttered, trying to dig himself out the metaphorical hole he had dug.

"No… it's not that." She sobbed.

"Then- then what's wrong?"

"I'm sorry Dick." She muttered, moving away from him into a private section of the aircraft.

"What the hell just happened?" Dick put his hand on the back of his head, confused.

"Don't think about it now. We have work to do, with or without Galatea!" Batman barked, leaping out toward Superman with a jet pack ready. The rest of the group began leaving the aircraft too.

"Stupid kid." Huntress laughed, looking at the now red faced Dick. Huntress then left the aircraft.

"What did I say?" Dick shouted.

"Don't worry Dick, you'll figure women out someday." Black Canary said, leaping out of the aircraft.

"I still don't have a clue." Question said, looking at Dick. Then the two of them grabbed jetpacks and jumped out as well.

Superman picked up his pace, speeding up toward Luthor. Then, to his shock, he saw that the Justice Lords were following him as well! "Of-freaking-course." Superman groaned, realizing that Ultraman was quickly gaining on him. Superman was just moments away from the building now, when suddenly, a bright portal opened up in front of him. Then another portal. Then another. Soon the sky was filled with hundreds of portals!

"What is that?" Green Arrow called.

"No idea." Batman yelled back.

Then, people began to appear out of the portals. No, not just people… but heroes! Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Firestorm, Red Tornado, Doctor Fate, Captain Marvel, The Atom, the list was endless! More and more of these heroes were billowing out of the portals, forming a defensive wall between LexCorp Towers and Superman.

"What is all this?" Question wondered out loud. Then, out of the largest portal, Zatanna stepped out.

"Didn't I tell you I was getting reinforcements?" She asked, clearly proud of herself.

"I knew she was getting backup… I didn't know she was building an army!" Black Canary exclaimed.

"Good. Looks like we're going to need it!" Batman shouted, pointing toward the sky. Raining downward were millions of Superman Drones! There were at least half a billion of them, all ready to attack!

"Oh my God…" Flash grumbled.

"We couldn't beat two of those things!" Hawkgirl screamed.

"And now there's a whole army." Dick nodded.

"This sucks." Green Arrow sighed.

"What the hell are those things?" Johnny Quick demanded.

"Superman Drones. They have all of Superman's powers, they're built of an organic metal that can repair itself, and they evolve and grow stronger during battle." Batman explained.

"You kind of left that part out while explaining the situation!" Ultraman shouted.

"Would you have come with us if you knew we would be going against that?"

"No."

"Exactly."

Then, as the army of Superman Drones began to attack, a half of thousands of arrows flew out and took hundreds of the drones down! Everyone looked out onto the coast, to see a series of large wooden warships. The Amazon's had arrived! The Amazon's immediately stormed onto the battlefield, and flurries of arrows began striking Superman Drones. Then, none other than Wonder Woman herself flew up and kicked the head off of a drone!

"Diana…" Bruce said in amazement. He desperately wanted to talk to her. She had not noticed him yet. He was tempted to fly over to her, but shook the thought from his head. There were more important matters at hand right now. Gunshots began ringing out. Cadmus, The Human Defense Corps, and the U.S. Military had arrived on the scene!

This was becoming the scene of an epic war, a war that could quite potentially level all of Metropolis! In the midst of all the chaos, Batman lead his team through the storage garages into LexCorp Towers. The Justice Lords stayed behind to fight, Ultraman going to find Superman. Metallo also left to go after the man of steel. Batman, Question, Dick, Huntress, Black Canary, Dove, and Green Arrow charged into the building, which was strangely void of any security. But as they approached Luthor's office, they were attacked by a large group of agents from the V.O.P., including Parasite, Livewire, Bane, Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang, and a lot of other people who Batman paid no attention to. He left the group behind to fight the V.O.P. while he broke into Lex's office.

Lex was still standing idly by his window, watching the war take place outside. "Beautiful isn't it? This whole picture that I've painted… I like to call it, Corruption." Luthor said eerily.

"How? That's all I want to know. "How did you turn Superman into this monster?" Batman demanded, narrowing his eyes.

"I actually did very little, Batman. We bombarded the Hall of Justice with low level black kryptonite radiation for a while, just to weaken his will, you know. We didn't even use enough radiation to control his mind or anything, just weaken his will. That was all it took. After that, we just had to manipulate a few little events, like, for example, having him witness the death of a little girl whom he was too slow to save." Luthor said, turning around with a smile. "That was all it took, Batman. A weakened will and a little motivation. That was all it took to corrupt Earth's favorite son, to turn the picture of perfection, into an insane killing machine! This evil, cruel, murderous Superman that you've come to know… I did not create him, Batman. He was already there. I simply helped him get out."

"Why? What's the point in it Luthor… what meaning could there possibly be?"

"What meaning? Hah! What else Batman… it's the only meaning you can understand. The same meaning behind you dressing up as a bat every night! Hatred, vengeance, anger, the whole damn package!"

"Why not just kill him then? An army of these Superman Drones would have certainly have the power to."

"Ever heard of poetic justice, Batman? Just sending a robot to slaughter him would have no meaning. Think about what I've done to him. I'm not just killing him now, no, I'm far beyond that. I'm destroying him! Destroying everything he stands for, has ever stood for! I've destroyed all of his principles, all of his stupid dreams of morality! He was always the perfect, incorruptible golden boy. And look what I've done to him! I've taken him, and turned him into the very type of enemy that he opposes!"

"And what about the Superman Drones? What purpose do they serve?"

"Notice the drones are not harming Superman, or even attempting to, and yet they'll destroying everything else? It's to cast the illusion that they serve Superman, you see. And you may not have realized it yet, but I'm broadcasting this battle all around the world! Everyone with a computer, television or cell phone knows about this! Everyone knows that Superman is the brutal, cold blooded killer! And then these drones… even after I kill Superman and become the hero to the world, the drones will live on and continue to terrorize humanity for eons to come! It will never end, the drones will always plague humanity, and I, Lex Luthor, will always be the savior! I will always be the hero there to destroy them! For all of eternity, Superman will be known as the worst, most wicked and vile being to ever live! His reputation will forever be that of a monster! And me… I will forever be the hero!" Luthor cried.

"So that's it? That's your whole master plan? A publicity stunt?" Batman criticized.

"It's the ultimate revenge, Batman. I, Lex Luthor, have achieved the absolute vengeance!" He proclaimed.

"Good enough then." Batman smiled.

"What?"

"You see Luthor; I _did _realize that you were broadcasting to the entire world. So I took the liberty of hacking your broadcast system before we even got off the aircraft." Batman held up a speaker device. "Everyone in the world heard what you just said. Everyone with a TV, Computer or cell phone, heard you confess!"

"What… no!"

"Sorry Luthor, I don't think you'll go down as anyone's hero." Batman shut the device off. Police helicopters could already be heard, coming to arrest Luthor.

"No… you dare! You dare!" Luthor roared, punching Batman with surprising strength, sending him flying across the room. "I'll rip you apart!" He lifted his desk and smashed it over Batman's back, then kicked the dark knight in the stomach. "I've been taking kryptonite steroids… and congratulations bat, you're the first to feel my new strength!" He lifted the wounded dark knight by the back of the cowl and punched him in the stomach. Batman sprayed numbing-gas into Luthor's face, causing him to drop the hero. Batman then kicked the madman away, but found that he struggled to stand.

The rest of the team barged into the room, having defeated the V.O.P. agents. They were just in time to see Luthor pulling an RPG from his closet! The rocket propelled grenade was fired, and the heroes all leapt in different directions, but the explosion caved in the floor. The heroes fell downward and landed on a floor with some sort of white pod, and from it more Superman drones were emerging! The drones were billowing out of the machine two at a time, four per minute! They then went through a teleporter device and moved out onto the battlefield.

"What is this?" Dick asked.

"Each Superman Drone is based off the same nanite encryption, this machine is designed to replicated that encryption and produce more drones, kind of like a super fast assembly line!" Question realized.

"Then we'd better destroy it." Huntress started to move in, but Batman stopped her.

"Hold on… something isn't right. This device… its Kryptonian technology!" He said.

"Yes, it is." Luthor's voice said, as he crawled into the room aggressively, his shirt now stripped off. "It was not easy to acquire, but when you know the right people, anything is possible." He laughed. "Just try to destroy, it's built of the same organic metal compound, it will just recover!"

"Damn!" Batman punched the machine.

Luthor stepped into a strange pod of some sort, and then there was a loud noise for several minutes, and when he came out, he was clad in a large green war suit, powered by kryptonite!

"Time to complete phase three… kill Superman!" He shouted, blasting through the roof. Batman began tampering with the teleporter.

"What are you doing?" Dick asked.

"I have a plan. Just not sure it's a good one."

_Meanwhile, outside LexCorp Towers…_

Metallo lay in a smoldering scrap heap, decimated by the Superman Drones. The heroes' numbers were quickly dwindling, overtaken by the Superman Drones. Even the help of the Amazon's and the Military didn't help the situation much. Now Superman was locked in combat with Ultraman, beating each other with a flurry of crushing punches.

Then the Lord's version of Green Lantern blasted Superman in the back with a ray of green light. Superman turned around angrily. "I already took care of the one on this Earth… now I have to deal with the alternate one too!" Superman screamed, zooming in and snapping the evil Green Lantern's neck! He dropped the dead villain down to the ground, and then turned back to his fight with Ultraman.

John, this Earth's Green Lantern, stared at the carnage around him. He desperately wanted to help in the struggle, but his ring had been destroyed. Then, out of nowhere, a body dropped down in front of him. The body of the evil Justice Lord's Green Lantern!

"Oh no way…" John chuckled, reaching down. Slowly and carefully, he took this Lantern's ring, and placed it on his finger. "Sweet." There was a bright green flash, and suddenly he was suited up as the Green Lantern! He flew in, but did not go directly into battle. He knew that if they were going to defeat these Superman Drones, they needed more than one Green Lantern. They needed the whole Corps.

Superman spun around at super speed, firing off shots of heat vision, but Wonder Woman deflected them all with her bracelets, determined to kill Superman! Then, she accidentally deflected a beam of heat vision into the face of Ultraman! Superman took advantage of the moment and drove Ultraman down into the ground, beating him to a pulp. Once Ultraman was lying unconscious in a crater, Superman fired a continuous ray of heat vision into the pit, frying Ultraman, burning him to a crisp! After several minutes, he stopped, and saw that Ultraman's body was almost nonexistent!

Now to focus on Diana. But when he turned around, his view was obstructed by Lex Luthor wearing a kryptonite war suit!

"Get ready to die!" Luthor screamed, attacking.

_Meanwhile, back inside…_

"What exactly are you going to do?" Dick asked, but Batman did not respond. He simply continued to tamper with the teleporter. Then there were footsteps behind them. Dick turned and smiled, because standing there, was Galatea.

"Hi!" He shouted. "Glad to see you're ok."

But something was wrong. Galatea did not speak. She simply held up a gun.

"Galatea? What are you doing?" Dick asked. Behind her, Huntress and Black Canary, who had been assigned to keep watch, fell to the ground bleeding.

"She's a traitor! She's working with Luthor!" Huntress screamed.

"What? No, come on guys, this isn't funny." Dick laughed, but no one else did. "G- Galatea?" He looked into her eyes.

"I'm so sorry Dick." She said.

"But… but why?"

"This is why." She raised her arm and pulled down her sleeve, revealing an area where her flesh had been completely decayed away!

"What… what happened to you?" Dick was completely confused.

"Clone degeneration happened to her. It's happens to most clones, they just don't stay stable long enough. She's literally being reduced to dust. Clone degeneration is killing her!" Question explained.

"Galatea… is that true?" Dick asked.

"Luthor has a cure. When he came to me, almost all of my left side had been eaten away! He gave me a small dose of the cure, and it all regenerated! He said that if I helped him out, he would give me more. Enough to keep me alive." She was crying now. "I was supposed to follow you guys around, gain your trust, and then kill you when he said to. But… but I wasn't supposed to make attachments. That wasn't part of the plan."

"So this whole time… you've just been using me?" Dick shouted, furious.

"No, Dick! It's not like that! I… I swear, everything between us was real! I really do love you." She sobbed.

"Prove it then. Drop the gun, Galatea." There was a long silence.

"I wish it were that simple." She sighed. Then, she shot a large pipe toward the ceiling, and it released a poisonous gas! Everyone in the room instantly dropped to the floor when they were exposed to the gas. "Bye Dick." She dropped the gun and flew away.

When the smoke cleared, only three figures stood. Batman, Dick, and Green Arrow had quickly utilized gas masks, but everyone else… they hadn't been so lucky. Batman quickly gave each of them powerful antibiotics. "This should fight the poison, I think they'll all live." Batman said.

Dick fell to his hands and knees, tears streaming. "I can't believe it… I can't believe I never saw it coming…"

"It happens to all of us sooner or later, Dick. Emotions get in the way of the job." Green Arrow sighed. "It sucks, but it's the way things are."

"I told you to forget about her. You should have listened." Batman lectured.

"Shut up Bruce! I'm not like you ok! I'm not afraid to make attachments, and if that makes me any less than you, then I guess I don't want to be more!" Dick argued.

"Stay calm. Galatea thinks we're all dead, you can freak her out and have your revenge later." Green Arrow said.

"I don't want revenge. I just want this all to be over with. I want to go and forget this ever happened." Dick said sadly.

"Come on. The three of us will complete the plan." Batman went back to the computer.

"What exactly is the plan, Bruce?" Green Arrow asked.

"This machine is Kryptonian technology, right? And the Eradicator happens to know absolutely everything there is to know about Kryptonian technology. We find the Eradicator, we can learn how to shut this thing down."

"And where is he?" Green Arrow asked.

"Currently, in the fortress of solitude."

"Wonderful."

Outside, a helicopter arrived. A helicopter containing Supergirl, and Lois Lane. "Clark!" Lois called. Superman looked up from his battle with Lex to look at her.

"Lois. You shouldn't have come here!" He shouted, emotionlessly. Lois was crying.

"Clark, please stop Please. What you've become… this monster… it can still turn around!" She pleaded.

"Maybe I don't want to turn it around! And if you cant understand that, then you deserve to die with the rest!" Superman shouted, grabbing Luthor and throwing him into the helicopter! It immediately tipped. Supergirl grabbed Lois and flew her down to Earth, hiding her in an alley.

"I don't think you can help him. Which means…" Supergirl said sadly.

"Which means you have to kill him." Lois nodded. "I understand… good luck Kara."

"Kara!" Wonder Woman called from above. "We need you!" She said, grabbing Supergirl.

Wonder Woman and Supergirl quickly flew to Batman, Green Arrow and Dick.

"If you're going to the fortress of solitude, take Kara. Only a Kryptonian can interface with the Eradicator!" Wonder Woman explained.

"Right, I nearly forgot. Are you onboard Kara?"

"Yeah. I'll do whatever I have to."

"Good."

"Bruce, I'm coming too." Diana said.

"No. It's too dangerous, you'll-"

"Bruce, would you really rather have me out on that battlefield?"

"Good point." Batman turned and continued his work on the teleporter.

"It takes you that long to put in coordinates for the Fortress of Solitude?" Green Arrow asked.

"No, that'll only take a second. First, I have to get something else…"

"What?" Dick asked.

"This." Bruce activated the device, and then everyone realized exactly what he was planning. From the portal, there was a monstrous growl. A growl that everyone recognized. The group backed up, and from the portal rose a hulking beast… Doomsday!

"Doomsday! What the hell Bruce?" Dick screamed.

"Doomsday is powerful, and hates Superman. There are a whole lot of drones out there that look like Superman. Right now, I think Doomsday will do a lot more good than he will harm." Batman said.

Doomsday completely ignored these heroes, and leapt out, immediately beginning to destroy the Superman Drones!

"Now, let's go to the fortress of solitude…"

Outside, Galatea found Luthor, currently in a punch-brawl with Superman! "I killed them, Luthor!" Galatea shouted. "Now I want the cure. What about our deal?"

Luthor turned angrily and blasted Galatea with a wave of kryptonite radiation! "There's your damn antidote!" He shouted, returning to his fight. Galatea dropped the ground, unconscious. And this time, her dreams involved Supergirl and the Eradicator, inside the fortress of solitude…


	17. Last Stand

Chapter Seventeen: Last Stand

Superman lay on the LexCorp Towers now, being burned alive by Luthor's kryptonite radiation. He had already been weakened from the Cadmus ambush… and now he was on the brink of death.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Die you stupid piece of filth!" Luthor screamed psychotically. The sun was rising now, but it would do no good for the man of steel at this point. Nothing would. All around them, the Superman Drones were annihilating everything in their path. One by one the hundreds of superheroes fell, dropping like flies. The military forces and Cadmus had almost completely been wiped out now. The Amazon's numbers were swiftly dwindling, finding that their armor was little defense against heat vision. The only one putting a major dent in the Superman Drones force's was Doomsday! The unstoppable Kryptonian war monster was destroying every drone in it's path, but he wouldn't last forever, and the drones would. That was the problem, that machine was literally creating more and more by the minute. And the ones that were destroyed could usually regenerate. It was a fight that the heroes had no chance of winning, even with Doomsday in the front lines.

"Like what you see… Superman? Huh? Do you like it?" Luthor roared, laughing with a new level of mania.

"Actually, yeah…" Superman chuckled, coughing up blood. This made Luthor snarl, and veins began bulging out of his forehead. He balled up his iron-clad fist and punched Superman hard in the face, the impact caving in the roof. They both began falling through the inside of LexCorp towers, Luthor punching Superman the whole way down. They finally landed in the room where the machine creating the drones had been. Superman swung his arm and managed to shove Luthor off of him momentarily. He looked over and saw some sort of solar generator, powering the machine!

"Of course… it is Kryptonian technology…" Superman grunted, crawling toward the machine. He reached the solar power generator and ripped off the power cufflinks, literally jamming them into his own chest! Solar energy began surging through Superman, charging his Kryptonian cells… making him stronger. Finally, he pulled the cufflinks away from himself, literally glowing with energy!

He hovered into the air, the radiant, angelic glow gleaming from his body was a complete contradiction to his cold, murderous personally. He clenched his fists triumphantly. "Yes… YES! I've never felt power like this!" He shrieked. Luthor stood, slightly horrified. "I- I'm stronger than I've ever been!" Superman broke out laughing.

Then Luthor's confident smile came back. "That may be true… but I still possess the largest amount of kryptonite radiation in the world, at my fingertips." He prepared to blast. Superman prepared to dodge. "And… I still control the Superman Drones! And I can change their programming at any time I please!" Luthor shouted. Suddenly, a strange lit up in his eyes. Superman realized that Lex was somehow controlling the drones telepathically!

Suddenly, the four drones in the room turned and grabbed the man of steel. Lex, more confident than ever, pointed his gauntlet toward his enemy, preparing to fire a lethal blast of radiation. "It's been fun… Superman."

Superman struggled against the four drones holding him still. Finally, he got one arm free. He used it to pull a drone in front of him just as Luthor was firing, and used it as a shield! Superman then quickly spun and around at super speed, flinging the drones off of him. In a blur he was behind Luthor and grabbed the villain by the back of the neck! Using his x-ray vision, he scanned the inside of Luthor's skull, finding a tiny microchip implant that was wired to Luthor's brain, allowing him to control the drones. Superman savagely jammed a finger into Luthor's skull! The madman screamed in agony, which only increased Superman's joy at the activity.

"There was one flaw in your big master plan, Luthor… I've become even worse than you!" Superman laughed, pulling the microchip out of the President's head! He then threw the armor-clad villain through an office window. "Now down to business." Superman found the gash in the back of his head where Diana had struck him with an ax earlier. He placed the microchip inside, painfully pushing it through his own skull. He then felt the device operate to it's programming, and begin to fuse with his very mind! It was extremely painful, but Superman grinned knowing the end result would be worth it. Once the process was over, Superman immediately felt a link to the millions of drones! "Wonderful. After I kill everyone here, I'll have my own army!" Superman envisioned himself on a throne in the ruined city of Metropolis, while the ever growing masses of drones policed every corner of the globe! Why exterminate the human race, when he could dominate them? It seemed like a much more fruitful endeavor. But first, he had to finish off his attackers. Superman floated outside, telepathically commanding an army of one hundred Superman Drones to his side! They then found Doomsday, who had slaughtered thousands of the machines.

Doomsday spotted Superman and leapt at him. But in mid jump, Superman and all of the drones at his side fired powerful blasts of heat vision! The heat vision collected in a massive red wave that overtook the monster, and within seconds, Doomsday was no more. The landscape was left barren and smoldering. A fitting image for the new world, Superman thought. Perhaps he would even rename Earth… something along the lines of "New Krypton", to honor the parents who sent him to the filth ridden planet that he now planned to conquer.

Queen Hippolyta herself attacked him from behind. Superman dispatched her quickly. But then he heard another battle cry, this one a bit more familiar. He turned and was struck by Hawkgirl's mace! He went spinning, and before he had even regained his composure, he sent his drones to attack! Hawkgirl immediately began smashing her way through the dog pile of drones, but she would not last long, Superman new this for sure. Then, suddenly, the sky was lit up in a green glow! Then thousands of green energy blasts beamed down and destroyed the drones attacking Hawkgirl. Superman looked up in shock to see the entire Green Lantern Corps descending upon them! John Stewart was at the front of the army, rage burning in his eyes. Most of the corps went on to battle more drones, but about twelve of them surrounded Superman, all aiming their power rings toward him. Among them was John, the Earth Green Lantern.

"Haven't you had enough yet?" Superman growled aggressively.

"It's over Clark. You're done." John barked.

"My drone army outnumbers even the entire Green Lantern corps! And we're growing by the minute! You don't have a chance!" Superman threatened.

"Oh, I don't know, I've got a feeling that if we fry you right now, the Drones won't be too much of a problem afterwards."

"Just one problem, you guys aren't allowed to use lethal force, right?" Superman grinned. "And even if you incapacitate me, the drones will keep on coming. You'll have to kill me to stop them, and since you can't do that, I guess you're at a dilemma, Stewart."

"Take him down!" John shouted, ignoring the rant. All of the surrounding Green Lantern's fired, but in a blur Superman flew upward. He was immediately being chased by emerald energy constructs, mostly strange alien forms. John rocketed ahead and beat Superman into a building with a giant emerald hammer! He then began pounding Superman mercilessly with two gigantic emerald fists, not even giving the man of steel a chance to move! Superman jutted out his hands and blocked one of the fists, and the other had no room to move in. But the fist was pressing in on him, he wouldn't be able to hold it forever. "You can't beat me Clark, not while I have the corps by my side!" John shouted.

"Maybe not alone… but I think you're forgetting my new power, John!" Superman shouted back. Suddenly, a drone appeared behind John, and fired a slicing ray of heat vision into the back of John's head! Immediately blood spattered, and the emerald fists faded away. John fell to the ground in a heap.

"No!" Hawkgirl shrieked. "John! No, no, please God no!" She cried. Superman laughed wickedly.

"Don't worry Shayera, you'll be seeing him real soon."

_Meanwhile, in the Fortress of Solitude…_

Batman, Green Arrow, Dick Grayson, Supergirl, and Wonder Woman arrived at the Fortress of Solitude through the teleporter.

"No messing around here. We get in, find the Eradicator, get the information we need, and leave. We need to end this as soon as possible." Batman instructed.

"Yeah… sure…" Dick said distantly.

"Get over Galatea! She's evil, she double-crossed us and tried to kill us, get over it and do something!" Batman shouted. Green Arrow rested his hand on Dick's shoulder.

"Come on bats, give the kid a break. Even normal people go through some tough break ups. And with people like us, it usually ends in a lover trying to murder you. It's not easy." Green Arrow said.

"It isn't supposed to be easy. Dick should have learned a long time ago not to make attachments. They never work for people like us! Either someone gets hurt, or someone hurts the other! Either way, it never works. He fell into the oldest trap in the book, that's pathetic enough, there's no reason for him to mope about it!" Batman lectured.

"Bruce, stop. Its not like you haven't done the same thing." Wonder Woman piped in.

"But I learn from my mistakes. That's why I won't do it again. Dick obviously doesn't learn anything from his mistakes. Remember Donna Troy? I seem to remember him being hurt then too!"

"She died Bruce, that isn't even a fair example!" Green Arrow shouted, becoming angry at the dark knight's attitude.

"You know why Dick fell for Galatea? Because unlike you, he has a heart! And that pisses you off because it reminds you how much of a jerk you are!" Supergirl stated bluntly, looking Batman in the eyes.

"Will you all quit talking about me like I'm not even in the room!" Dick chimed in, frustrated. Everyone looked at him as if they had forgotten that he could hear them. "I don't want to talk about anymore, ok? It's done. I screwed up, and it won't happen again. Now let's find the Eradicator and get out of here!" He demanded, shoving passed everyone. Supergirl and Green Arrow followed.

"Bruce… is that why you won't get close to me?" Wonder Woman grabbed Batman's hand. "Are you afraid of getting hurt?" She was suddenly very understanding.

"It doesn't matter right now. It never even mattered at all." Batman followed after the other heroes, and with a sigh, Wonder Woman followed too.

But then there was a loud blast, and part of the fortress began to collapse. Five Superman Drones fell through the gaping hole, sent by Superman.

"He just couldn't make this easy, could he?" Green Arrow sighed, readying his bow.

"How did he know we were here?" Wonder Woman questioned, preparing for combat.

"Where else would we have gone?" Batman pointed out.

"Good point." Wonder Woman nodded.

One of the drones zoomed forward and began blasting shots of heat vision toward Batman, causing him to jump back from the rest of the team.

"They're trying to separate us!" Dick shouted. Batman threw two bat grenades at his attacker, blowing the drone to smithereens. But before the smoke even cleared, Dick was thrown into the dark knight, sending them both tumbling over a ledge deep into a crevice of the fortress. They landed hard on the icy ground, surrounded by glowing crystals.

"Ouch." Dick groaned.

"That wouldn't have happened if you had been paying attention!" Batman stated.

"Yeah, yeah, I screw everything up, get over it Bruce!"

"My grapple can't make it all the way back up. We'll have to scale the wall." Batman said, suddenly all-business. He began to climb, but quickly grunted and fell back down.

"What the-" Dick saw that Bruce's arm was covered in blood. "Bruce, you're hurt."

"You think?" Batman snapped with angry sarcasm.

"Come on, I'll carry you up and-"

"No. You can't."

"What do you mean I can't Bruce? I'm a better climber than you and-"

"No Dick! I can get up myself." Batman tried climbing again, and fell again, landing painfully on a crystal this time.

"Yeah, it really looks like it." Dick said, returning the sarcasm, offering his hand. Batman ignored it and stood up himself.

"You've already made enough mistakes today. I can find another way up." Batman said, flaring Dick's anger.

"Bruce I can have us back up there in fifteen minutes!"

"You aren't strong enough, alright? Quit arguing and think about what you're doing! We don't need any more screw ups-"

"Bruce, will you just shut the hell up?"

"Excuse me?"

"I'm sick of this! Sick of you! You know what, I'm going up myself! If you want to lay here and die in a hole, be my guest! I won't shed a tear!" Dick screamed, getting ready to climb.

"You'll fall. Find a better location to start." Batman criticized.

"Oh my God just shut up Wayne!" Dick turned around and stared into Batman's eyes. "Why can't you just trust me? Just once?"

"I've always trusted you. But maybe that was a mistake, considering your performance lately."

"I know, it's not good enough right? I've NEVER been good enough!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't pretend you don't know! Even when I was Robin, nothing I did was ever good enough for you! I did my best and you treated me like garbage!" Dick had tears in his eyes, but there seemed to be no danger of them leaking out. "You made my childhood a living hell!"

"Dick-"

"No! Don't try to talk your way out of this, alright? I'm sick of it! I always screw everything up, I can't do anything right, I'm a loser, I get it! So please, just back off and leave me alone!"

"Dick… you're wrong. You couldn't be more wrong. I always pushed you because I saw something better in you. No matter how well you did, there was always something better waiting beneath the surface. You have unlimited potential, Dick. You always have. And I pushed you because I wanted you to be the best you could be. I never intended for you to feel badly about it, I just… I wanted to see you reach your full potential. Because every single improvement you ever made… it made me proud."

"You- you're proud of me…?"

"Extremely. And you can still do better, you still haven't reached 100%. I guess I pushed you because… well to be honest, I always expected you to surpass me one day. You certainly have the potential. And someday… someday I even want you to take my place."

"What?"

"I always intended for you to be the next Batman. A better Batman than me, even. In everyone's eyes but your own… you are my successor, Dick."

"Wow. How come you never told me any of this before?"

"I didn't want to boost your ego too high. You still have a problem with that."

Dick tried to hide it, but he smiled warmly and he knew Batman was well aware. Bruce telling him that he could be the next Batman… that was basically the same thing as telling him that he loved him. Dick Grayson… Batman's successor… Dick never would have imagined it.

"Come on Bruce… let's get out of here."

Soon they were out of the crevice, Dick carrying Batman on his back. Dick quickly hoisted them to the surface, and Batman got to his own feet.

"By the way, it took you twenty minutes." Batman said.

"Shut up Wayne." Dick laughed, shaking his head. They looked up and saw that all but two of the drones had been defeated by Supergirl, Wonder Woman and Green Arrow. Batman pulled out a scanner of some sort, and after a few moments, looked to Dick.

"The highest source of energy in this place is located south of here. If I'm not mistaken, that should be The Eradicator."

"Alright, we'll need Kara. She's the only one who can interface with it."

"Yeah, but the problem is getting past these damned drones."

"I've got a plan. That is, if you're willing to trust me." Dick asked.

"Always." Batman nodded.

After a moment of discussing, the three heroes locked in combat heard Batman shout, "Fall back! Now!"

Reluctantly, Green Arrow, Wonder Woman and Supergirl ran out of the battle, immediately being chased by the drones. They ran over under an arch over to Batman. The drones flew in. Batman stood forward with his arms spread wide, like a walking target!

One of the drones prepared to fire heat vision, when a grapple shot passed it's head. The grapple suddenly retracted, and caught the drone in the face! It pulled his head upward, causing the heat vision to strike the arch. About three tons of crystal came falling down on top of the drones! Dick stepped out from behind the pile of fallen crystal, holding a grapple gun. "Just for the record everyone, I totally came up with that whole plan!" Dick shouted, getting a slightly uncomfortable laugh from the entire group. Then there was a bubbling sound behind them.

"Oh crap." Supergirl groaned. The three destroyed drones began to reform, began to heal.

"I'll stay here and hold them off. You guys get to The Eradicator!" Wonder Woman shouted.

"No." Batman argued.

"Bruce-"

"No Diana. You're not dying again!" He insisted, turning her around and looking into her eyes. "I don't want to lose you again, alright?"

"I've got her back, Bruce." Green Arrow piped in.

"Same here." Dick agreed, drawing his escrima sticks.

"Bruce. I'll be fine, I promise." Diana pleaded. Batman nodded.

"Come on, Kara. The sooner we get to The Eradicator, the better."

Batman and Supergirl headed deeper into the Fortress of Solitude, while the other three stayed behind to fight. The two of them soon arrived at the large yellow orb that was The Eradicator.

"There." Batman said.

"Wait, I thought The Eradicator was like, a robot or something." Supergirl said, confused.

"It depends on the form it takes at the time, depending on the situation. Right now, it sort of operates as a computer database for Kryptonian information."

"And only a Kryptonian can access that database, right?"

"Right."

"So, what do I do? Just like, touch it?"

"Not sure."

"Well thanks for all the help." She rolled her eyes.

She moved cautiously over to the orb, and then touched her hand to it. Immediately, her eyes lit up with a yellow glow. There was a strange, incomprehensible chatter to Batman, but to Kara, it seemed like a fluent language.

**"Identification: Kara Zor-El."** The Eradicator said inside of her mind. **"What do you want to know?"**

After several minutes, Kara stepped down from the machine. "That was crazy… it was like, every thought I've ever had was swirling around in some kind of electric current or something. I've never felt anything like that before." She said.

"Do you know how to shut down the machine?" Batman asked quizzically.

"Not just the machine." She smiled. "I know how to shut down every single drone, too."

_Meanwhile, outside LexCorp Towers…_

Everything was suddenly coming back into focus. Slowly, John's eyes were opening. The back of his head still felt extremely hot. He reached up and touched his head where the heat vision had struck him. He felt metal. The metal plate in his head! From when he was shot during his time in the Marines… now that metal plate had just saved his life. The heat vision had struck the plate and had not damaged his brain at all.

"Sweet." He smiled, his ring reacting to his determination with a bright glow. "Time for round 3, Superman." He flew off to find the man who had almost killed him twice now. Most of the heroes had fallen now, only about ten remained to fight the Superman Drones, and they were wearing down quickly. Superman was at the center of the battle, beating down everything that came near him. The Green Lantern Corps had lost three quarters of its warriors; the Amazon's were nearly wiped out. Things were looking grim.

Then a large black shadow passed over Superman, the Bat Plane! It was soaring as mach 7 speed, blazing across the sky. The bottom opened up, and five heroes descended into LexCorp towers, Batman, Dick, Green Arrow, Wonder Woman and Supergirl.

"Not a chance." Superman sneered, beginning to fly toward the group. But then he was caught in an emerald vice construct, created by John Stewart! "Oh you have got to be kidding me! Why won't you just die?" Superman screamed.

"I'm a Marine. We're really tough to kill. I'm also a Green Lantern. We're even tougher."

"I take that as a challenge."

Back inside the towers, Supergirl was approaching the machine, preparing to use her new knowledge to shut down the machine producing the Superman Drones. Once they were finished off, the only remaining chore would be to take out Superman. But just as she was getting to work, a gunshot rang out. And then a kryptonite bullet embedded itself into Supergirl's back! The heroes immediately turned around, and saw a bloody, beaten Lex Luthor holding a gun. His war suit had been torn to shreds, and he was bathed in his own blood from the beating Superman had given him. But he was laughing like a maniac.

"You idiot!" Batman shouted, punching Luthor down. "She was our last chance! Now he's going to conquer everything!"

"And I still win." Lex Luthor chuckled.

"How? How the hell does that make you a winner Luthor?"

"Because my plan worked… Superman is a monster… a killer… even a conquering dictator! Hah-hah-hah… I win! Don't you get it? Even in death, I still win!" Luthor's reasoning was warped, and it had maybe just cost them the hole world.

Then there were footsteps down the hall, and a weak, lumbering Galatea walked in.

"What do you want?" Dick demanded, as Green Arrow prepared to shoot.

"I- I want to help." Galatea muttered.

"Of course you do. Just like you wanted to help before, right?"

"Dick… Luthor betrayed me anyway… and I really don't benefit from Superman taking over." She reasoned.

"Even if we did trust you, how could you possibly help the situation?" Batman asked.

"I was still passed out while Kara was connected with The Eradicator. I saw everything she saw. I know as much as she does. I can shut this machine down." She explained.

"Or she can speed it up and get us all killed." Green Arrow said cynically.

"Please. What would I have to gain from that?" She insisted.

"She has a point." Wonder Woman said, slightly uncertain.

"She's our only chance Dick." Batman said, which surprised everyone. "It's definitely a risky chance… but it's all we have left."

"Ok. Do it." Dick sighed. Galatea stepped over to the machine.

"This will take about twenty minutes, it's a long shut down process." She said.

Then Green Lantern crashed through the wall. Superman began approaching. Batman was still injured, and so were Wonder Woman, Dick, and Green Arrow from their fights with the Superman Drones back at the fortress of solitude. None of them were in any shape to fight.

"Um, I don't think we have twenty minutes." Green Arrow said, an air of hopelessness in his voice.

"Yes we do." Batman said.

"What do you mean?" Wonder Woman asked.

Suddenly, the Flash zoomed into the area. He had pretty much been avoiding the fighting, and now he was the last hero who stood against Superman.

"Flash? Please. I'll be done with him in twenty seconds!" Superman laughed.

"You know what… like I told Shayera, I'm the last resort guy. The one people go to when there's no one better. And I was right." He looked up. "Problem is, right now there really is no one better. So… I guess it's my time to shine."

"Think you can hold him off for twenty Wally?" Dick raised an eyebrow.

"Nope. But that doesn't mean I can't try." Flash prepared for battle with the man of steel.


	18. The End

Chapter Eighteen: The End

Superman Drones began to move in, but Superman stopped them. He wanted to finally silence the Flash himself.

"Scared… West?" He asked.

"Terrified." Flash nodded with a grin, despite the situation. "So are we gonna do this or not?"

In a blur, Superman flew toward Flash. But Flash's eyesight works at super speed too, and he was able to see the man of steel coming. Flash dodged the oncoming attack spun as fast as he could, pulling Superman into a cyclone and throwing him into a nearby vehicle. "Well, we're off to a good start." Flash muttered.

Superman had already risen. Flash raced toward him. Superman released a wave of freeze breathe, icing over the street and causing Flash to slide around violently. He slid directly into Superman's fast, and on impact Flash doubled over into the air, clutching his stomach. At the speed Flash had been traveling, the punch had been the equivalent of being struck by a smile meteor. He fell to the ground, coughing. "And my luck is gone." He sighed. Superman prepared to stomp on Flash's skull, and the hero rolled out of the way at the last second. In a blur Flash was to his feet, and then was gone.

"Coward." Superman chuckled, preparing looking toward LexCorp Towers ready to finish the job. But then he was struck in the face with a powerful impact. Superman tumbled several feet, his cheek swelling. Then he was struck again, then again, then again. Soon he was bouncing back and forth between impacts. Flash was moving at such a great speed that he was harming Superman! Superman shot heat vision and melted the ice he had created on the street. Then he could see Flash's footprints in the water. Superman grabbed Flash by the arm and began to squeeze, causing Flash to scream painfully. Then Superman flew Flash through a store window. The scarlet speedster stood up behind a wall, holding the hand he had been using to punch Superman.

"Damn… feels like I stuck my hand underneath a steam roller!" He glanced out the window and saw Superman stumbling. "I hurt him though. And I need to keep that up." Then heat vision blasted through the wall, burrowing into Flash's back! Flash managed to move out of the way before any serious damage was done, but it hurt like hell and smoke was billowing off of his costume. Superman punched through the wall angrily.

"You can't run forever Wally!" He screamed, still spraying heat vision. This started a fire, which in turn caused the sprinklers in the building to turn on. Flash spun his arms and created a cyclone, sending a hail of water toward the man of steel like bullets. The impact actually knocked Superman over, and flash began vibrating in the pooling water, sending a small but powerful wave toward the killer. Superman was blasted outside, and Flash zoomed in, grasped Superman by the shoulders, and vibrated as fast as he could, driving Superman deep into the concrete like a jackhammer!

Superman flew up and grabbed the scarlet speedster, pulling him high into the atmosphere. He then threw him downward with a mighty thrust. In an effort to save himself, he began patting his feet fruitlessly against a large brick building. But his momentum was far too great for him to turn around. Then he came to a window on the side of the building. He threw himself back and smashed through the window, tumbling into the abandoned building. He only slowed down, but never ceased moving. He swiftly went back out and ran up the side of the building, flying off at almost a million miles an hour. With Superman on target, he curled up like a cannonball and began vibrating violently. He struck Superman and there was a thunderous blast, and they both went crashing into the ground, Superman hacking up blood! He stood slowly, and was immediately pelted by a barrage of superfast fists!

"Hold still damn you!" Superman shrieked, swinging punches. But he was unable to hit the scarlet speedster. He fired off more punches and kicks and beams of heat vision, but was never able to even come close to hitting The Flash. Then Flash literally phased through Superman's body! He did not mean to do it, it just sort of happened when he picked up too much speed. Superman dropped to the ground, vomiting blood now, shivering. Flash had messed up his insides with the vibration. Now was the scarlet speedster's chance.

Flash vibrated his hand as fast as he could manage, extending it toward Superman's throat. In an instant, he could kill Superman. It would be a swift death; Flash would simply remove his throat and finish it. He reached closer, but then hesitated. After several moments, he pulled his hand back and sighed, stopping the vibration. "I can't do it. I guess I don't have that killer instinct."

"Funny-… I do!" Superman exclaimed, punching Flash in the neck! Flash went spiraling and on impact, caved in a wall and disappeared into the rubble. "You – are – dead!" Superman walked toward the rubble, looking to finish the job.

_Meanwhile, in that general area…_

The Justice Lord's Batman crawled slowly toward the smoldering body of Metallo. The other Justice Lords had all fallen in battle… but the alternate Batman was about to put an end to all of it. Then he heard a chillingly familiar voice. "It's time." Said Ultraman's voice! The Lord's Batman turned his head in shock, to see Ultraman alive, and lumbering toward him.

"You're alive?" The evil Batman was surprised.

"Yeah… there's been a change in plans though. Jonny!" He called. Suddenly, a bloodied and battered Jonny Quick zoomed over.

"Where are the others?" He asked.

"We're all that's left of the Justice Lords. The rest fell." The alternate Batman said.

"So what now?" Quick asked.

"The League thinks all of us are dead. That will prove quite an advantage in the future… let's get out of here. Quickly." Ultraman said.

"Just a minute. There's something I need to do first…" The Batman said, glancing back at the corpse of Metallo.

_Meanwhile, Back in the Fight…_

Superman raised his hand to crush the rubble, when a golden lasso wrapped around his arm and pulled him onto his back. Wonder Woman. The woman pulled Superman into the range of her battle ax, where she swung down at him. But he killer of steel quickly raised his hands and clasped them around the blade, pitting his strength against hers. He released a breath of freeze breath, freezing the metal of the ax, allowing him to shatter it. He grabbed the lasso and jerked, flinging Wonder Woman into a wall, then pulling her back and punching in the face. She kicked up and struck him in the chin, causing him to bite through his tongue! She then punched him in the nose, bloodying it. Superman spun around and swung out his arm, sending her flying across the concrete. Then a series of baterangs stuck into his back! He whipped around to see both Batman and Dick coming at him. He shot heat vision at their feet, sending them falling toward him. He grabbed their throats and smashed their heads together. Then he threw Dick off to the side, and ripped off Batman's utility belt.

"You know what Bruce… I – am sick – of you!" He jammed Bruce hard into the ground. Green Arrow prepared to take a shot, but in a flash his arrow as broken and he was well acquainted with Superman's fist! He called in more Superman Drones to aid him, but then there was a sharp pain in his skull, and all of the drones deactivated.

"No! No, no, no!" He barked, looking to Galatea. She stumbled out; degeneration had taken more of her arm now. All of the billions of drones fell to the ground, inactive. The machine that was producing them shut down. It was over. But then Superman smiled and levitated into the air, then broke out laughing. His hair, usually so nicely combed, now hung shagged over his eyes. His costume was in tatters and he was covered in bruises and cuts. But his laughter was still loud and triumphant.

"You- You still can't defeat me! In case you haven't noticed, you're the only ones left! No one else stands to oppose me! Bruce, you're hurt and out of weapons. Dick, well you weren't too much of a problem in the first place! Galatea's rotting, Diana's injured, Wally is out cold, and Ollie is even more pathetic than Dick! I can still kill every last one of you!" He laughed in a manner similar to that of the Joker. "Diana, I might keep you… I'll have lots of fun with you!" He said wickedly and lustfully. "Bruce, maybe I'll keep you alive for a little while too… I'll make you watch what I do to her!" He continued laughing. "I'll make you watch so long that the image will be burned on your eyes!"

Lex Luthor, injured and shaking, raised the gun with the kryptonite bullets. But before he could fire, Superman flashed down and crushed Lex's hand! "You… I still can't decide if I should torture you, or just kill you on the spot. Considering you brought this out in me… I guess I'll do you a favor and just kill you now!" Superman raised his fist and prepared to kill Luthor with one last punch.

Then Metallo, his body melted and damaged, shouted out to the man of steel. "Hey Superman!" Superman looked over. Metallo's right arm had been reconfigured into some sort of gun. He reached into his chest with his left arm, grasping the rest of his kryptonite core.

"From me… to you… bitch." Metallo then ripped out the kryptonite core and loaded it into the gun, firing it off at Superman. Then he went offline. His eyes went dark, and his head dropped lifelessly to the ground. The kryptonite shard sailed toward Superman, but he managed to dodge it. But Galatea shot it with heat vision, blasting it into the air above Superman!

Batman leapt up into the air after it. Superman prepared to move, but then Wonder Woman's lasso wrapped around his body, holding him in place. Green Arrow threw his bow up to Batman, and Dick threw his escrima stick. Batman caught both objects, and worked the kryptonite into the escrima stick, turning it into a makeshift kryptonite arrow. He then used the bow, and with pinpoint accuracy, fired. The kryptonite sank into the lower region of Superman's neck! He was immediately weakened as the kryptonite entered his bloodstream through the wound.

Lex then clenched his fist and punched Superman in the face! Superman fell backward, unconscious.

"Hah hah! I did it! I just beat Superman!" Lex screamed, raising his arms into the air joyously. But his happiness only lasted for only a brief moment, because Batman kicked him in the head on his way down, knocking Luthor out.

Batman looked over to Superman, who was squirming half-consciously. "It's over." Batman smiled widely, as if he had just woken up from the worst nightmare of his life.

"Are we gonna let him die? Personally, I would have nothing against it." Green Arrow said.

Batman was quiet for a long moment. Then he reached down and cautiously pulled the kryptonite out of Superman's neck.

"Figures you wouldn't let me die… you're weak." Superman muttered.

"No Kal. I'm just stronger than you are." He kicked Superman in the head too, knocking him out as well.

"What are we going to do with him then?" Diana asked. "Honestly, I don't think prison is a good enough punishment for him."

"No, it isn't. I completely agree. I have my own ideas for him, I promise." Batman told her. "But right now there are more important matters…" He turned around and pulled Diana into a deep kiss. After several minutes, they pulled away. She was grinning from ear to ear.

"Where did that come from?" She asked.

"There was a time during all of this mess when… when I thought you were dead. And I realized I'd never have a chance to tell you how I feel. I don't ever want to feel like that again." He said, and then they met in a warm embrace. Batman saw that Dick was looking off into the sun, a distant look in his eyes. "One minute…" He said, walking over to his adopted son.

"What's the matter?" He asked.

"Galatea… she's gone." Dick said, glancing to where she had been standing. He was right, she had run off during the excitement.

"We'll find her one day, Dick." Batman assured him. "She'll find a way to survive."

"Yeah but… but what happens when we do find her? She betrayed us Bruce, she would have killed me. Not that I don't understand her reasoning, but still… what am I supposed to do?"

"That's one choice that I can't make for you, Dick. But whatever you do decide… I promise you that I'll stand by the decision."

"Thanks Bruce. Now… how long do you think you're going to stay this nice?"

"It won't last long. I'm just happy this is over with."

"Good."

"Good?"

"Yeah, it's creepy when you're actually nice to people! I'm kind of missing the dark, broody Bruce Wayne."

Suddenly there was a rustling over in the debris from the battle. The Flash came stumbling out, walking near-drunkenly and confused toward the group. "Did I beat him?" He asked in a quivery voice.

"Yeah Wally, you did." Diana laughed.

"Cool." Then Flash fell face first onto the ground and was out cold. The whole group laughed.

Within the next ten minutes, the police had arrived and picked up Lex Luthor, arresting the president!

"It'll be nice to have Luthor locked up for a while." Dick said.

"It won't last long. He'll pull strings and get out." Batman sighed.

"Ah, there's the cynic we all know and love!" Dick chuckled.

Batman explained his ideas for Superman. They would have him cryogenically frozen, but first Batman would modify the chip in his brain, implementing technology similar to what was used in the Justice League combat simulators. Superman's would be frozen in a permanent sleep, to never wake up, and his mind would spend the rest of eternity locked in combat with Doomsday! Superman would subconsciously be killed, over and over again, only for the fight to start over again. It was fair punishment, as far as everyone else was concerned.

"Hey guys! Get over here!" Green Arrow yelled urgently. The group walked over to where the archer was standing. In the crater where Ultraman had been, there was now nothing. The crater was empty.

"Wait, you mean…" Dick began.

"Ultraman got away." Batman nodded.

"He's loose in this universe somewhere. That can't be good." Diana shook her head.

"I'm sure we'll be seeing him real soon." Green Arrow sighed. Then his eyes widened. "What about Kara?" He shouted. Everyone gasped and ran over to where the dying Kryptonian girl had been. But when they arrived, they found her sitting against the wall with Green Lantern, J'onn and Hawkgirl. And she seemed ok.

"We took care of Kara." J'onn said.

"She's really tired, and there's no telling if she'll ever be able to walk again… it's kind of hard to say right now, but hopefully with time she'll recover." Hawkgirl nodded.

"I think we should get home. I don't know about you guys, but I am tired as hell." Green Lantern yawned. Everyone agreed, and headed off.

The next day, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Hawkgirl, J'onn, and Green Lantern met in the JLA Council Room. They voted that for the time being, the Justice League would disband. Perhaps they would reform later, but for now they had no desire to continue as a team. The recent events had shaken all of them up. Bruce and Diana would still be seeing much more of each other, however. They had formed quite a strong relationship.

The nightmare had finally come to an end. Superman was defeated. The drones were deactivated. Luthor was in jail. Things were looking up. All of the deactivated Superman Drones were gathered up and launched into the void of space, never to be seen on Earth again.

A new, brighter day was dawning now. No one knew exactly what the future would hold, but they had a feeling that it would be something better.

_Later, in the deep in outer space…_

The spaceship belonging to the Challenger's of the Unknown drifted through space, headed back to Earth. Their patient in the infirmary, Hank Henshaw, was making a decent recovery considering the shape he had been in when they found him. Rocky looked out the window, and saw something new drifting through space near the ship.

"Hey doc, what's that?" He asked. Doc looked out the window and saw a damaged heap of metal, with the Superman insignia on it!

"Interesting… it appears to be some sort of, destroyed Superman robot! Bring it aboard." Doc said. Red and Rocky soon retrieved the robot, and brought it in. They put in the infirmary, where Doc could examine it. In fact, this drone was right next to the recovering Hank Henshaw.

Hank looked over in his bed and saw that hated Superman symbol glowing. "Su – per- man! Die! Die!" He groaned, reaching over.

"Whoa, Hank, calm down!" Doc yelled. Hank fell out of his bed and reached over to the robot.

The metal began to bubble strangely, almost as if the robot was… healing!

"What the devil…?" Doc was mystified.

"Die!" Hank groaned, reaching into the morphing, recovering organic metal of the robot. His hand was suddenly enveloped in the steel. Suddenly, the drone began to warp around his body, merging with him!

"What- what's going on?" He screamed as his body was consumed by the metal. Once it was done, there were not two beings, but one. The robot and Hank Henshaw had been merged into one.

"What the… Mr. Henshaw? Are you alright?" Doc began to reach out toward. Suddenly, Henshaw clasped Doc's hand, crushing it painfully. Henshaw now resembled a monstrous, near-demonic human skeleton! A warped version of the Superman symbol was incased in his chest.

"Alright? Alright!" He shrieked, lifting Doc into the air. "I've never been better!" He then literally ripped Doc in half! Blood bathed the room. Red and Rocky ran in.

"Hey Doc, what's goin' on-" Red began, before he was suddenly struck down by Henshaw's new heat vision!

"Red!" Rocky screamed, swinging a punch at Henshaw. His fist rested firmly on Henshaw's face, doing no damage at all. Henshaw froze Rocky solid with ice breathe, and then crushed him with a powerful punch, literally shattering him! Henshaw ripped open the door into the cockpit, and grabbed Ace, throwing him through the windshield of the spacecraft and into the void of space! Henshaw then fired heat vision into the fuel tank, blowing up the spacecraft. He flew several miles in a matter of seconds, and rested on a small moon. He looked in the distance with his super-vision, and saw planet Earth!

"Earth…" He laughed maniacally. "Good. Time for revenge!" He began flying off. "Time to die… Superman!"

**The End**

**Really strange ending, I know! Pretty soon, I'll begin work on the sequel. That's right, there's going to be a sequel everybody! The title will be Superman: Redemption, look out for it within the next couple weeks, and no, it's not what you think. What I have planned for the sequel will blow your mind! **

**I'd like to give out a thanks to all of my great reviewers, with special thanks to LordFrieza, who provided a lot of great ideas throughout the writing of this story. Hope you enjoyed the story everyone! **


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